₦5,500.00
Title: The Hundred Wells of Salaga
Author: Ayesha Harruna Attah
Synopsis
Aminah lives an idyllic life in the village of Botu, until she is brutally separated from her home and forced on a journey that will turn her from a daydreamer into a resilient woman. Wurche, the wilful daughter of a chief, is desperate to play an important role in her father’s court at Salaga-Kpembe.
The lives of these two remarkable women converge in a tumultuous meeting that takes them from mistress and slave to unlikely allies, as Aminah and Wurche find themselves tangled in a web of desire, jealousy, political intrigue and illicit affairs. Meanwhile, infighting among Wurche’s people threatens to leave the region exposed to powers much larger than themselves.
The Hundred Wells of Salaga explores the depths of female friendship in this stirringly intimate reimagining of life in pre-colonial Ghana. This captivating novel establishes Ayesha Harruna Attah as one of the most distinctive voices of the contemporary literary scene.
About the author
Ayesha Harruna Attah grew up in Accra, Ghana and was educated at Mount Holyoke College, Columbia University, and New York University. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, Asymptote Magazine, and the 2010 Caine Prize Writers’ Anthology. Attah is an Instituto Sacatar Fellow and was awarded the 2016 Miles Morland Foundation Scholarship for nonfiction. She lives in Senegal
Blurbs
“[A] dazzling historical drama.” —The New Yorker
“A skillful portrayal of life in pre-colonial Ghana emphasizes distinctions of religion, language, and status…[Attah] has a careful eye for domestic and historical detail.” —The Guardian
“Illuminating…Attah’s exceptional research of the era shines through, making for a convincing historical novel.” —Publishers Weekly
“Compelling…rich and nuanced…Attah is adept at leading readers across the varied terrain of 19th-century Ghana and handles heavy subjects with aplomb. Two memorable women anchor this pleasingly complicated take on slavery, power, and freedom.” —Kirkus Reviews
“An evocative novel that centers on two very different young women brought together at the end of the 19th century in precolonial Ghana. Ayesha Harruna Attah deftly narrates their story while insisting on examining the complicity in slavery at that time…Read this!” —Mona Eltahawy, author of Headscarves and Hymens: Why the Middle East Needs a Sexual Revolution
“An instant modern classic. Gave me the same feeling as when I finished reading Things Fall Apart; like something deep within me had shifted and would never be the same again.” —JJ Bola, author of No Place to Call Home
Price: 5500