TITLE: THE SON OF THE HOUSE
AUTHOR: CHELUCHI ONYEMELEKWE-ONUOBIA
PUBLISHER: PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE SOUTH AFRICA(PTY) LTD.
YEAR OF PUBLICATION: 2019
PAGES: 758
ISBN:ISBN 978-1-4859-0373-4 (Print) ISBN 978-1-4859-0403-8 (ePub)
GENRE: Fiction
REVIEWER: HUSSAINA GIMBA SHABAFU
The book, the son of the house which I will rather call the daughter of the house because the title says little of the son but rather revolved round the life of the mother of “the son of the house”.
It is an intriguing story that explores different familiar themes and those the society is all out in curbing. It explore themes of love, enmity, betrayal, culture, molestation, kidnap, and Polygamy.
The author takes the reader through the mind of each narrator with good sense of didacticism so the reader gets the full gist. It discussed about the lives and the families of protagonists, nwabulu and Juliet throughout.
The book brings to play, the enmity co-wives develope towards stepchildren which has become a norm. It’s deeply rooted spreading it’s roots in homes it deem fit to inhabit.
Children fall prey and mostly the brunt bearers of this polygamous saga and whose only crime is being born in to the family. They are made to pass through hell and exposed to the environmental vices when a mother passes on leaving her children in the care of the remaining parents or when co-wives do not get along.
Nwabulu’s fate gets hatched in such environment as life wasn’t pleasant to her after the death of her mother at her birth. Her father brought in another wife to suffice the death of her mother.
Life took another turn at her after she lost her dad again leaving her to the tribulations of her step mother who decides to send her to Lagos because she was an extra burden of a mouth to feed under the guise of education but ended up as a maid.
She suffered molestation from the husband of the woman she was serving and was sent back to the village after being caught pants down with her madam’s husband.
Again she was taken to enugu for the same purpose. There she found a home but just for moments that never lasted as she became love struck and gave in to the neighbor’s son that took her to the cloud nine and in the process her dreams got truncated at the moment when she got pregnant and was denied by her lover boy.
Life turned it’s back at her again and she was deported back to the village and confirming the doubts her step mother had on her adding more fuel to the flame of hatred she had for her and more chances to get ridiculed.
Before putting to bed in the village, she was forced to marry a deceased man whose mother, mama Nathan, an agonized mother who was sanity impaired after Nathan’s death but on the proposition of Nwabulu’s marriage again found happiness due to the child she was carrying. The marriage rite was conducted and few months later she put to bed and with time, Mama Nathan became possessive of the child which Nwabulu she wasn’t ok with and decide to limit her from getting too engaged with her child and instead mama Nathan stole away the child, forever. Nwabulu became helpless and had to leave the village to start up another phase in her life.
Juliet is a woman in her early 30s yet to get married. Her parents were so worried about their daughter who was unable to find a man. She later got married as a second wife after faking her pregnancy to the man, Eugene she found and married. Months passed by, nothing to show of a pregnant woman and instead she faked miscarriage as she found out she was barren. Their marriage lasted but not all rosy as her Barreness persisted after her said miscarriage. She faced humiliation from in-laws due to her barrenness and while she went through these painful phase of life, her friend and confidant, obiageli was always there to console her. Obiageli’s aunt, mama Nathan came visiting with Nwabulu’s stolen baby and after staying for few days became ill, and later on died.
Juliet who was already acquainted to the child was convinced to take the baby since he was also considered another mouth to feed in the village and not wanted.
Nwabulu being obiageli’s seamstress whom she linked up with Juliet never knew she was set on track to locate the whereabouts of her long lost son. Juliet was preparing for her child’s wedding which obiageli was the seamstress to make her garments for the wedding. while in the process of delivery after sewing, they both fell in to the kidnappers den and in the cause of knowing about each other, the truth was revealed about the wherebeing of of Nwabulu’s child.
The small world we live tends to bring people together no matter how far they may be. And as the writer said; the truth will always be revealed regardless of how long it takes.
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Hussaina Gimba Shabafu is a graduate of Biochemistry from Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, Kaduna State. She is a Writer, Poet, book Reviewer even though she’s yet to be published. She is the assistant editor 2 of Literature voices and the secretary of the Hill-Top Creative Arts Foundation, Abuja chapter. She loves writing and writes from Abuja.
