“There was nothing the ears had ever heard to make them fall off, or the eyes had seen that would make them weep blood instead of tears.”

Genre: Literary Fiction
Pages: 304
Published: February 1st, 2019
Rate: 4 ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Goodreads Synopsis
In the Nigerian city of Enugu, young Nwabulu, a housemaid since the age of ten, dreams of becoming a typist as she endures her employers’ endless chores. She is tall and beautiful and in love with a rich man’s son.

Educated and privileged, Julie is a modern woman. Living on her own, she is happy to collect the gold jewellery lovestruck Eugene brings her, but has no intention of becoming his second wife.

When a kidnapping forces Nwabulu and Julie into a dank room years later, the two women relate the stories of their lives as they await their fate.

Pulsing with vitality and intense human drama, Cheluchi Onyemelukwe-Onuobia’s debut is set against four decades of vibrant Nigeria, celebrating the resilience of women as they navigate and transform what still remains a man’s world.

Disclaimer: A copy of the book was sent to me by the publisher, Europa Editions, for review but all thoughts and opinions expressed are honest and my own.

My Take
I loved the idea behind this book. We have two characters from two socio-economic backgrounds brought together by this one unfortunate event. Cheluchi’s writing is easy to get through that I found myself flipping the pages wanting to know more. Who are these women? How did they get here? What’s their correlation? I was drawn in from the prologue and I needed answers.

There’s a beautiful exploration of relationships, both platonic and romantic, but for me it’s the platonic that had me quite interested. The plot brings about the culture and traditions of these characters, which was quite the experience for me.

The characters are engaging, and with their contrasting experiences, there are bits of drama here and there. Reading some of the characters had me wanting to slap some sense in to them because bad choices and decisions all over!

I think the only thing I had a problem I had was the last few pages felt rushed and the ending didn’t do it for me. All in all I did enjoy the book.

The Son of The House has a cinematic feel to it, quick to get through and a book that I’d recommend for your reading pleasure.

Have you read this book? If yes what did you think of it? If no, does it sound like something you’d pick up?