Fiction

A Good Name

by Yejide Kilanko

Description

Twelve years in America and Eziafa Okereke has nothing to show for it. Desperate to re-write his story, Eziafa returns to Nigeria to find a woman he can mold to his taste. Eighteen-year-old Zina has big dreams. An arranged marriage to a much older man isn't one of them. Trapped by family expectations, Zina marries Eziafa, moves to Houston, and trains as a nurse. Buffeted by a series of disillusions, the couple stagger through a turbulent marriage until Zina decides to change the rules of engagement.

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Reviews

With a steady and skilful hand, Yejide Kilanko has built an achingly human narrative that interrogates the ways men and women are bound by tradition, culture, family, and each other. Much like Buchi Emecheta's classic The Joy's of Motherhood, Kilanko offers an unsparing depiciton of disappointments, large and small, and the very human choices that compound or alleviate them. At each turn Kilanko invites us to ask ourselves how we might respond in similar circumstances. Much like Tayari Jones' much-lauded Silver Sparrow and An American Marraige, the characters and their conundrums haunt you when the story ends. You leave unsettled by the injustice of unfairness, deepl wishing the characters had chosen another way. - Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond, author of Powder Necklace


Author Biography

Yejide Kilanko was born in Ibadan, Nigeria. A writer of fiction adn poetry, Kilanko's debut novel, Daughters Who Walk This Path, a Canadian national bestseller, was longlisted for the inaugural Etisalat Prize and the 2016 Nigeria Literature Prize. Her work includes a novella, Chasing Butterflies (2105), two children's picture books, There Is An Elephant In My Wardrobe (2019) and Juba and The Fireball (2020). Her short fiction si the anthology, New Orleans Review 2017: The African Literary Hustle. Kilanko lives in Chatham, Ontario, where she also practices as a therapist in children's mental health.

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