Horrifying in the limits people, especially women, can be made to see as their choices. ( )

Happily, many new African writers have recently gained acclaim in the US, and Buchi Emecheta is a pioneer from an earlier generation. She was born in Kenya during WW II, moved to London, and writes fluidly about daily life in Ibo villages. Her focus and point of view is always with a woman who could be seen as ordinary in her own circle, but becomes remarkable to previously un-woke American eyes. In this book, her third, Ojebeta, a young and rather spoiled only daughter, is wrenched from her comfortable life when her parents die (her father, suddenly, of felenza, an epidemic brought to the area by colonialists) and she is sold by her brother to a wealthy relative for eight shillings. Ma Palagada runs a clothing market stall and treats Ojebeta fairly well. The personalities in her new life in the large market town are enthralling character sketches, and Ojebeta's experiences become universal to the eyes of anyone who enjoys their work and their associates, but not the boss or the conditions. ( )

The story is about an orphaned girl in a small village in Nigeria who is sold into slavery by her brother. A rich, distant relative buys the girl and raises her. It is an interesting view of how women view slavery and marriage in colonial Nigeria. One thing I personally found difficult was all the African words that were in the text that I didn't understand. ( )