Vitabu | October's Book



Nike Campbell Fatoki first became aware of colonial wars and life in southwestern Nigeria, as stories told by her grandparents. They fired her imagination. Later, in high school, her mother bought a typewriter which Nike used to write her first book--an untitled novel about the life of a slave girl in Charlottesville, Virginia.

In this book, Nike returns to those tales from the French-Danhomè war of the late 1890s in Benin Republic and early 1900s in Abeokuta and Lagos and writes the history of the household of the last independent king of Danhomè, Gbèhanzin, and their fortunes. Nike draws on family stories and history, but translates them into an imaginative tour de force.

The story starts with 13-year-old Amelia, daughter of King Gbèhanzin, and apple of her father’s eye. She is loved beyond measure by her mother, Ajo, the favorite wife of the new king.

But before old King Glele died, a bitter succession struggle between his sons had divided a palace filed with conspirators and traitors. Sasse Koka had reportedly died mysteriously while trying to amass support at the palace. His mother, Na Vissegan, headed the palace staff, but the tall, elegant, cat-shaped eyed Kamlin was there to make sure Vissegan didn't win and Kondo, Amelia's father, becomes king.

Just when Amelia begins to feel at home in her role as a Princess, a well-kept secret shatters the perfect life she knows. But that's not the only crack. The Europeans were invading Africa and the House of Gbèhanzin had run up against the colonialists and not even skillful, fearless female warriors who had the responsibility for thousands of years of protecting Danhomè kings could save him.

As the war advanced, Amelia must flee Danhomè with her brother to south-western Nigeria. In a faraway land, the well-kept secret thought to have been dead and buried, resurrects with the flash of a thread of gold beads. Amelia must fight for her life and what is left of her soul.

Thread of Gold Beads is a delicate love story, and  coming of age tale, depicting the strength of the human spirit in the face of adversities.

Read more about the author

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Vitabu features the memorable sixth chapter of Bakar Mansaray's new book

Image
Bakar Mansaray, the founder of the Mandingo Scrolls blog and winner of the 2017 Writer-of-the-Year, Afro-Canadian Heroes Award, is known for his riveting short stories and tales of life in his native Sierra Leone. In his new book, My Afro-Canadian Chronicle , published by Sierra Leonean Writers Series, the author sheds a personal light on the devastating effects of underdevelopment on a country that went through one of the most atrocious civil wars in modern history. "For those who have read books of literature, history and anthropology from Sierra Leone and yet harbour the sinking feeling that there had to be a missing link between narratives, Bakar’s book provides that missing link to complete the national narrative," writes novelist and poet Oumar Farouk Sesay in the Foreword. "This autobiography is a portrait painted on a canvas of memory in vivid and sometimes dark hues, telling a story only a mind as lucid as the author’s can tell. This excerpt was used wi
Read more

Summer hangout with Pede Hollist's So the Path Does Not Die

Image
Pede Hollist, a native of Sierra Leone, is an associate professor of English at The University of Tampa, Florida. His interests cover the literature of the African imagination—literary expressions in the African continent as well as in the African Diaspora. So the Path Does not Die is his first novel.  His short story "‘Foreign Aid" was on the shortlist for the 2013 Caine Prize for African Writing. Vitabu : I found So the Path Does Not Die a remarkable book. The story travels from a graphic, mystical past to the present time, through almost impossible and sometimes hidden cultural, social and economic issues. How did you come up with the idea for the Musudugu chaper? Pede Hollist: Among the Kuranko, Musudugu refers to a woman’s dwelling, but it also describes a mythical place where only women lived, happily and in sisterhood.  The story of Kumba Kargbo’s confrontation with the elders of Musudugu suggests that the conflict between old and new ways and the tension betw
Read more

Susan's Bay, Freetown, Sierra Leone

Image
An undated aerial photo of Susan's Bay, Freetown by Wallin Eleazar Riebel of Otterbein University. The postcard was digitized in March 2006 and the digital publisher is the Otterbein University Library. The original photo is stored in the repository of the Otterbein University Library Archives. Postcard captioned, "Susan's Bay, Sierra Leone." Aerial view, looking inland. ( Susan's Bay, Freetown, Sierra Leone ) On Wednesday, March 24, Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr Mayor of Freetown wrote on Facebook :  "J ust left the scene of a terrible fire at Susan’s Bay. The entire community has been burnt to the ground. Thousands are affected. We won’t know the full scale of the disaster until tomorrow when we conduct an assessment with NDMA and other partners. Many children are missing, separated from their parents in the chaos. Twelve children were at the FSU at Eastern Police station. We understand that other children might have boarded boats moored on the wharf. Devastating to w
Read more