Buchi Emecheta’s journey – from orphaned child, through marital oppression, single motherhood and societal prejudice, to fulfilment as an internationally acclaimed writer – though often described in terms of a rags-to-riches tale is better characterised as one woman’s dogged pursuit of a seemingly impossible dream. Recurrent themes in her novels – motherhood, female independence and freedom through education – are all the more powerful since they are never far from her own real-life experiences. Although it is easy to categorise her as a Nigerian female writer, she herself felt that she was writing “stories of the world”, about the universal problems of poverty and oppression that may be the burdens of women anywhere or everywhere.
Hers was a long, focused struggle for what she felt her rightful due. The accolades did come, but so did the tragedies. Two daughters predeceased her, and she herself suffered a debilitating stroke just weeks before she was due to receive an OBE in 2005. Her son Sylvester Onwordi has written that he felt his mother was “always living a provisional life, based to some extent on survival … she did not really get to enjoy the full fruits of her success”. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the author’s second novel, Second Class Citizen – a great excuse to get stuck in to Emecheta’s work. Here are some good places to begin.
***
The entry point
Second Class Citizen is the extraordinary fictional backdrop to Emecheta’s own journey from Nigeria to London, having married and had her first child by the age of 17, joining her student husband in London, bearing him four more children and finally leaving him during her fifth pregnancy, aged 22. It’s gripping reading to follow the trajectory of young Adah, who overcomes the traditional binds in place to subordinate her in Nigeria, believing in the redemptive power of education. Second Class Citizen is all the more inspirational considering its origins were to the background noise of five young children being raised single-handedly. Emecheta would rise at 4am to seize some writing time before the school run, managing to hold down a day job, while studying at night school for a sociology degree. A poignant account of resourcefulness on every level.
***
The surprisingly uplifting one
Existing first as a series of columns Emecheta wrote in the New Statesman, In the Ditch was published as a documentary novel in 1972. In 1979, my publishing company Allison & Busby published a revised edition, then, in 1983 (the year Emecheta was selected as one of Granta magazine’s Best of Young British Novelists), In the Ditch and Second Class Citizen were combined and published as one volume, titled Adah’s Story. From the outset, Emecheta showed herself to be a storyteller to the core. Her vivid observations animate life on the dole in a council estate slum, imbuing this book with sharp-eyed humour as well as pathos, standout characters bringing an unforgettable perspective to a book that fights page by page to be uplifting.
***
The one that deserves more attention
The Slave Girl won the 1978 Jock Campbell award (from the New Statesman, when Martin Amis was its literary editor). A Guardian review by Carol Dix still feels relevant in saying that the novel “pales a lot of academic feminist writing into insignificance”. I may be biased – I edited The Slave Girl and am honoured with a dedication – but I firmly believe that everyone should read this book.
***
The book club pick
Destination Biafra, Buchi’s most ambitious book, foregrounds the 1967-1970 Nigerian civil war, and can elicit polarising reactions. She was amazed to be castigated by veteran critic Chinweizu, who she claimed asked her: “Why should you be writing about what men are doing? Did you go to the warfield?” It was part of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s research for Half of a Yellow Sun, and is definitely a novel to generate discussion. It would also be interesting to explore ties between Destination Biafra and fiction by Emecheta’s pioneering foremother, Flora Nwapa, such as 1975’s Never Again.
***
The one that almost never happened
The Bride Price was the first novel Emecheta wrote, though her domineering husband burned the manuscript – which was the final straw that made her leave him. She recreated it over five years, eschewing its original happy-ever-after ending. A young Nigerian girl, forced into an arranged marriage for patriarchal reasons, responds with a defiance that highlights the clash between traditional values and modern aspirations, as well as the continuing impact of colonialism on African cultures.
***
If you only read one, it should be
The Joys of Motherhood – dedicated “to all mothers”, a powerful, ironically titled novel set in 1930s colonial Nigeria, charting the lows and highs in the life of Nnu Ego, who navigates what it means to be a mother in a society where traditions and customs are changing, having an effect on female roles, cultural expectations and the sacrifices mothers make.
Margaret Busby is the editor of New Daughters of Africa, published by Penguin.
