This Motherless Land

 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!

 

If you would like to be placed on Maria's Book Banter’s e-mailing list, please e-mail me at mariabookbanter@gmail.com. You will receive links to blog posts shortly after they are published. Your contact information will not be sold. If you would like to be removed from the list, let me know. Any questions, comments or book recommendations can be sent to this e-mail address too.