Review by Booklist Review
Set in the early 1970s, Brew-Hammond's vivid novel finds twenty-two-year-old Kokui Nuga at the crossroads of family expectations and her own desires. While her father's successful business in Ghana has brought significant wealth, his many affairs have led to complicated family connections--Kokui's mother left the household years prior on discovering his infidelities. Kokui is caught between love for her father and hurt from his betrayals, and is determined to forge a path in life on her own terms. When she is accepted to community college in New York, she is ecstatic to journey abroad with her new husband, the devoted Boris. Yet once the newlyweds arrive, it is far from what Kokui anticipated, the two sharing a cramped Brooklyn apartment with Boris' cousin. As Kokui struggles to find her footing, her relationship with Boris becomes increasingly strained and, after receiving devastating news from Ghana, Kokui is forced to confront the realities of her life and relationships. Alongside the dynamics of culture, identity, and class, Kokui's journey finely captures the formative shifts and bittersweet revelations of womanhood.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Children's author Brew-Hammond (Blue) makes her adult debut with the poignant story of a headstrong Ghanaian immigrant. Kokui was raised in the 1950s and '60s by her domineering father, Mawuli, after her mother left him for having multiple children with other women around town. Kokui hopes to eventually emigrate to America, but Mawuli expects her to take over the family paper mill. At age 23 in 1974, she marries fellow Ghanaian Boris, and the pair enroll at a college in Buffalo, N.Y. Before their departure, Kokui discovers that she's unexpectedly pregnant and has an abortion. She then joins Boris in New York City, where she works as a nanny to save money before the semester begins. That fall, Kokui learns her father has died in his sleep, and she returns alone for his funeral after a fight with Boris over the cost of the trip. Back in Ghana, she learns of squabbles among her father's other families over the estate, which build to a surprising revelation during the reading of his will. Though some of the plot points feel rushed, the author skillfully traces Kokui's complex family dynamics and her desire to achieve the American dream. This accomplished tale has plenty of grit and heart. (July)
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A couple navigates marital troubles. The first novel for adults from author Brew-Hammond, set in the early 1970s, opens with 22-year-old Kokui Nuga celebrating the Christmas holiday at a hotel in Accra, Ghana. It is there that a server first catches her eye; when she comes back on New Year's Eve, the two talk, and he introduces himself as Boris Van der Puye, who will soon head to the U.S. to attend a community college in Buffalo, New York. Despite the fact that his days in Ghana are coming to an end, the two date and fall in love, and Kokui also applies, and is accepted to, the school. Kokui's father, Mawuli, isn't thrilled with her decision; he wants his daughter to stay and work for his thriving paper company, but Kokui resists: "Leaving her father's haunted house of disrespected women was the only plan she was clear on." Her mother, a victim of Mawuli's frequent philandering who has since moved to Togo, also urges caution, but Kokui and Boris marry and move to the U.S., first staying with Boris' cousin in Brooklyn, then moving to Buffalo for school. When things start to unravel and Kokui returns to Ghana after her father's death, she starts to wonder whether she made a mistake, telling her mother that she feels "trapped by him. Like, if I push for something I need or tell him how I truly feel or show him who I truly am, I will spoil everything between us. And he lies, Ma." Brew-Hammond's prose and dialogue are workmanlike, but this tale of a garden-variety couple ultimately feels thin. Brew-Hammond is talented, but there's just not much here. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
