The Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi Dare
The Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi Daré
Publisher: Dutton
Publication date: February 23, 2021
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars
Publisher’s Description:
The unforgettable, inspiring story of a teenage girl growing up in a rural Nigerian village who longs to get an education so that she can find her “louding voice” and speak up for herself, The Girl with the Louding Voice is a simultaneously heartbreaking and triumphant tale about the power of fighting for your dreams. Despite the seemingly insurmountable obstacles in her path, Adunni never loses sight of her goal of escaping the life of poverty she was born into so that she can build the future she chooses for herself – and help other girls like her do the same. Her spirited determination to find joy and hope in even the most difficult circumstances imaginable will “break your heart and then put it back together again” (Jenna Bush Hager on The Today Show) even as Adunni shows us how one courageous young girl can inspire us all to reach for our dreams…and maybe even change the world.
Adunni is a fourteen-year-old girl living in a village in Nigeria. Her family is very poor. After her mother dies, her father sells her into marriage with a much older man, even though he promised her mother he’d never do that. She wanted her daughter to go to school and find her “louding voice”. Adunni begs him not to – she wants to stay in school and become educated. He will not relent.
Adunni is the third wife of the man she marries. His first wife is mean, jealous and physically abusive. The second wife takes Adunni under wing. At twenty she already has three children and is pregnant with the fourth. Adunne is determined to escape her situation and get an education to find her “louding voice”. But she faces obstacles at every turn.
I loved Adunni. Her resilience was amazing. The book illustrated the strong contrast the between the rural Nigerian villages, in which the people live in third world conditions and the cities. At one point, Adunni goes to Lagos. The culture shock she experiences is in some ways humorous and serves to break up what is otherwise a somewhat bleak story. It’s full of tension and drama with richly drawn characters. There is a sequel called And So I Roar that I can’t wait to read.
Highly recommended.
