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Thursday 19 May 2011

Lemona's Tale by Ken Saro-Wiwa

A moving tale of love, abandonment .... and murder
review by Maryom

Following the death of her father, a young woman, raised overseas, returns to Nigeria. Acting on her father's wishes, she goes to visit an unknown woman in prison. Condemned to die the next day for the murders she has committed, the woman, Lemona, tells her life story to her visitor...

Lemona's is a moving tale of love, abandonment .... and murder. She tells of growing up in a rural village, of how she was exploited by her employers, her lover, her jailers. Her life and destiny are things that Lemona never seems to have had any control over; all her attempts to build a better life for herself seem doomed to failure; any period of happiness short-lived. As the tale progresses, her visitor begins to realise the relationship between her and Lemona, and why her father insisted they meet.

This book was an accidental find in a huge pile I picked up through Freecycle but a thoroughly worthwhile read. It's not a fun, happy-ending sort of story but one to make you think of the struggles of less fortunate others, without the options and choices we take for granted.



Other reviews; Winstonsdad's blog
Maryom's review - 4 stars
Publisher - Penguin
Genre -
adult


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