The Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi Daré - Review

 

I chose this book for my book club choice of 2025. I have seen a couple of friends read it and enjoy it, and I thought it would be good for book club. I'm writing this before our book club meeting so I don't know what everyone will have made of it, but I hope they liked it. I did, but it is harrowing in places and I would give a trigger warning for sexual assault and abuse. 

So, Adunni is fourteen years old and she lives in a small town with her dad and her brothers - one older and one younger. Her mother died a few years ago and Adunni misses her terribly. She has friends, and she wants to stay in education because she is clever. But her family is poor, so she can't do that. Instead, her dad sells her off to a much older man, Morufu. He already has two wives - Labanke, and Khadija. Labanke struggled with infertility and managed to have just one child. Khadija has had four girls and is pregnant again. Everyone is hoping for a boy. Khadija is kind to Adunni but Labanke hates her and bullies her. Morudfu doesn't get involved in the tensions between the women. He takes some kind of elixir and rapes Adunni night after night, wanting her to get pregnant and have a boy. He is a terrible person and Adunni's life seems over. Something happens that means she has to run. She eventually makes it to Lagos. 

She is trafficked by the brother of a friend into being the house girl of a woman called Big Madam. She has fabric stores and is very wealthy. She is married to a man called Big Daddy who she hates. He is having loads of affairs and spends all her money. Big Madam is cruel to Adunni, of course, but some salvation does come. I really wasn't sure where I expected this part of the book to go, but I'm mostly happy with what happened. 

The book is written in non standard English (which explains the title, as Adunni describes herself as having a 'louding voice') with some Pidgin English in there. I wonder if book club members will have had a problem with this, but honestly, I think it's good for us as readers to be pushed out of our comfort zones occasionally. It took me maybe twenty pages to get used to the writing, but once I did, I loved it. I loved turns of phrase that Adunni used and I loved how she learnt things throughout the book. 

She is a genuinely fantastic character and I wanted her to succeed. I've seen there is a sequel to this book which I will have to read! I'm giving this five out of five.