By Karen McCarraher
The Middle Daughter by Chika Unigwe is the story of a Nigerian family—mother, father and three daughters—Udoti, Nani and Ugo. The family was preparing a big celebration to welcome their oldest daughter, Udoti, home from her university studies in the United States. Hours before she was to arrive, the phone rang and the news was not good. Udoti had died in a car crash. The family was grief stricken.
The mother continued to work as a nurse at a government hospital. The father had a printing business. The family continued to grieve for a long while. Then, two years after Udo had died; the father had a heart attack and died. The mother sold the printing business and opened her own maternity clinic. The clinic flourished and the mother became very wealthy. The family was wealthy and the girls were raised to be proper young women.
Nani liked to sit on a bench outside the home’s gate. One day, she met an itinerant preacher, Ephraim, who sat down to talk with her. Ephraim returned day after day to talk with Nani about her grief for her older sister and father and other aspects of her life. Ephraim also told Nani that her mother was selling babies through her clinic. Nani was shocked but knew it must be true since her mother bought new cars, expensive clothing, etc. Nani struggled with this knowledge and Ephraim told her she must forgive her mother. He offered to take Nani to a prayer vigil being held that night and she agreed to go. She sneaked out of the house to meet Ephraim and they went to the vigil. The vigil went on for hours with singing, dancing and preaching. Nani loved all of it; but when she looked at her watch, she realized that it was 2:30 a.m. The gated community where she lived closed the gates at 2 a.m. and no one was allowed in until the next morning. Ephraim offered to take her to his house to stay till morning and she agreed. When they got there, he offered her the bedroom and said he would sleep on the couch. But in the middle of the night, he came into the bedroom and raped Nani. She went home the next morning and refused to talk to Ephraim again.
Six weeks later, she realized she was pregnant. She had told no one about the rape. She didn’t know what to do so she went to Ephraim for help. He was overjoyed about the pregnancy and talked Nani into going to the registrar’s office and gets married. After this, she never went back to her home. When her mother learned of this, she disowned Nani.
Nani’s life becomes a nightmare. Ephraim ridicules her because she cannot cook. She tries to learn from the other women at the communal kitchen; but Ephraim will not let her talk to anyone. He locks her in the house when he goes out and if she does not respond to his every command, he beats her. Nani gives birth to a daughter and Ephraim names her Holy. She has two more children in the next two years—boys named PraiseHim and Godsown… Nani becomes more and more depressed. One day, Ephraim announces that he is taking the children on a mission with him to a neighboring city. While he is gone, Ugo comes to see Nani to tell her that she and mother are going to the United States. Nani is upset by this but realizes that, with Ephraim gone; she can leave and be free.
Nani goes to her old home which is now empty. She can’t stay in the empty shell with all its memories. She calls Aunty Enoka, an old family friend, who takes her in. Nani is worried. When Ephraim comes back from the mission, will he be angry to find her gone? She wants to get her children so Nani and Aunty make a plan.
What is the plan that Nani and Aunty come up with? Does Nani go back to Ephraim? Does she get her children? Does Ephraim ever pay for what he did to Nani? This is an ending you will truly appreciate.
This story was very moving. It was so well written that I hated to put it down. The family dynamics were so true to real life that you could feel the emotions of the characters. I really liked this book and would recommend it.
Chika Unigwe was born in Enugu, Nigeria She was educated at UNN and KUL (Belgium) and earned her PhD from Leiden University in Holland. Widely translated, she has won numerous awards for her writing. She teaches at Georgia College in Milledgeville, GA.
The Middle Daughter is published by Dzanc Books and available from Amazon.com