At the end of my last blog post, I mentioned that my next book would be Here One Moment. Well, that’s not going to happen. Instead, we’re going with This Motherless Land, a brand-new release, by Nikki May. I first heard about this book from Jenna Bush Hager, who raved about it on the Today Show. When I heard her description of it, I thought it sounded like the quintessential book for Maria's Book Banter.
This Motherless Land is
the saga of Funke, a young Nigerian girl who goes to live in England after
losing her mother in a car accident, and her cousin, Liv. Feeling desperately
homesick and experiencing culture shock, Funke is living with her mother’s
estranged family, who are full of racist preconceptions about Funke. However,
Liv is excited about Funke coming to live with them and sincerely wants to look
out for her.
This book takes us through Funke and Liv’s personal
journeys as young women. They face many startling twists and turns over the
years, including identity transformations, family toxicity, deceptions,
romance, and above all forgiveness and redemption.
My instincts were correct. This Motherless Land is the
type of book I like to read with its complicated characters in unusual and
unforeseen circumstances. It’s a love story, but not in the traditional romantic
sense. If you read the book, I think you’ll understand what I mean. Did I like
Funke and Liv as people? No, not always. That’s ok. As long as there's a
compelling narrative that will keep me involved and that’s what This Motherless
Land did for me.
This will be the last blog post for 2024. Despite a few
stops and starts, it has been a productive year for Maria's Book Banter. I'm
looking forward to another one in 2025. (2025, can you believe it?!?!) Until
then, keep sending me your book recommendations for the new year.
Happy Holidays from Maria's Book Banter!
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