The Girl With The Louding Voice by Abi Dare

Life has not been kind to Adunni.  Her only dream is to be able to finish her schooling so that she can become a teacher herself.  But when her mother dies, although her father promised her mother that he wouldn't interfere with Adunni's education, promises are cheap.  He doesn't want to work but prefers to lay around drinking.  Soon, he has a plan to marry Adunni off at fourteen as the sixty year old man who wants her is willing to pay a good bride price for her.

Adunni is the third wife in the old man's compound and as such, her only role is to do what wives one and two tell her to and to spend nights in the old man's room where he does whatever he wants.  When tragedy strikes the household, Adunni runs off, begging help from anyone she knows.

But help is not available for a naive girl.  She is instead sold to a wealthy family in Nigeria where she works from dawn to late at night, cleaning and being a personal attendant to the older wealthy woman who runs the house.  The woman is married but her husband has a roving eye and hands.  The woman not only demands long hours and high standards from Adunni, she also beats her almost every day.

But there are a few good things even now in Adunni's life.  The cook finds a scholarship that is targeted for housemaids that could get Adunni out of her life of servitude.  There is a woman down the street who is struck by Adunni's cheerfulness in the midst of her bleak life and who does what she can to help.  Will these good people help Adunni escape her current life and find her voice?

Abi Dare has written a debut novel that is uplifting and interesting.  She manages to highlight the obstacles that many young women around the world are faced with and the difficulties they face in trying to pull themselves up from ignorance and poverty.  Adunni is a lovely character and the reader won't be able to stop cheering for her in the situations she finds herself in.  This book is recommended for readers of women's fiction.