Tag: contemporary fiction

#BookReview My Sister, The Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite @AtlanticBooks @ReadersFirst1

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My Sister, the Serial KillerAbout the Book

“Femi makes three you know. Three and they label you a serial killer.”

When Korede’s dinner is interrupted one night by a distress call from her sister, Ayoola, she knows what’s expected of her: bleach, rubber gloves, nerves of steel and a strong stomach. This’ll be the third boyfriend Ayoola’s dispatched in “self-defence” and the third mess that her lethal little sibling has left Korede to clear away.

She should probably go to the police for the good of the menfolk of Nigeria, but she loves her sister and, as they say, family always comes first. Until, that is, Ayoola starts dating a doctor at the hospital where Korede works as a nurse. Korede’s long been in love with him, and isn’t prepared to see him wind up with a knife in his back: but to save one would mean sacrificing the other…

Format: Hardcover (240 pages)          Publisher: Atlantic Books
Publication date: 26th October 2018 Genre: Contemporary Fiction

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My Review

My Sister, The Serial Killer is a short book but for me that just added to its attraction.  I loved its taut style with not a word wasted which created a real energy to the story .

Although her conscience tells her she should, Korede’s sense of loyalty to her sister, Ayoola, makes her unwilling to go to the police. Her mother’s words to her on the birth of her sister, ‘Big sisters look after little sisters’, also echo in her mind. Korede finds comfort in sharing her concerns about her sister’s actions with Muhtah, one of the patients in the hospital where she works. He’s been in a coma for a long time and is deemed unlikely to recover so Korede views her one-sided conversations with him as akin to the secrets of the confessional.

Ayoola seems untroubled by her conscience, having convinced herself on each occasion she was acting in self-defence. She prefers to concentrate on posting on social media, designing clothes and deciding what to wear next.  Basically, she craves being the centre of attention. As Korede observes, ‘Ayoola lives in a world where things must always go her way. It’s a law as certain as the law of gravity’.

Beneath the surface, the reader suspects both sisters’ behaviour has been affected by their childhood experiences. Korede’s passion for cleanliness, even as a nurse, is surely more than just a desire to get rid of germs and Ayoola’s dispatch of troublesome boyfriends is perhaps a replacement for another person she would have liked to have got rid of.

Things come to a head when Ayoola sets her sights on Dr. Tade Otumu, a doctor at the hospital where Korede works and for whom Korede harbours a secret admiration. As well as being a skilled medical practitioner, he’s always cheerful, often singing or whistling as he goes about his duties. In fact, he’s described at one point as ‘a walking music box’ making you understand why not only does he lift the spirits of his patients but Korede’s too. As sisterly affection and loyalty is pushed to the limits, Ayoola sagely warns Korede, “You can’t sit on the fence forever”. 

Set in Lagos, the book provides an insight into Nigerian family life, social customs, food, and so on. I was struck by the fact the family’s house girl is never referred to by name. She’s always merely ‘the house girl’ despite being a constant presence in the family’s life, preparing food, waiting on guests and carrying out a multitude of household tasks.

My Sister, The Serial Killer is a darkly comic novel about the limits of sibling loyalty. I loved its wit, energy and inventiveness, and can fully understand its inclusion on so many literary prize lists, notably the shortlist for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2019 and the longlist for the Booker Prize 2019.

I received an advance review copy courtesy of Atlantic Books and Readers First.

In three words: Clever, witty, accomplished

Try something similar: The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives by Lola Shenayin

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Oyinkan BraithwaiteAbout the Author

Oyinkan Braithwaite is a graduate of Creative Writing and Law from Kingston University. Following her degree, she worked as an assistant editor at the publishing house, Kachifo, and has been freelancing as a writer and editor since. In 2014, she was shortlisted as a top-ten spoken-word artist in the Eko Poetry Slam and in 2016, she was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize. (Photo credit: Goodreads author page)

She lives in Lagos, Nigeria.

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#GuestPost The Ends of the Earth by Abbie Greaves

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Welcome to today’s stop on the blog tour for The Ends of the Earth by Abbie Greaves. My thanks to Najma Finlay at Cornerstone for inviting me to take part in the tour. Described as ‘a love story and a mystery, as well as a reflection on how to navigate a life in suspension’, The Ends of the Earth was published on 29th April 2021. I’m delighted to share with you a guest post by Abbie in which she reveals how the idea for the book came about. Personally, an author’s inspiration for a book is always something I find fascinating and I hope you do too.

The Ends of the EarthAbout the Book

Mary O’Connor has been keeping a vigil for her first love for the past seven years.

Every evening without fail, Mary arrives at Ealing Broadway station and sets herself up among the commuters. In her hands Mary holds a sign which bears the words: ‘Come Home Jim.’

Call her mad, call her a nuisance, call her a drain on society – Mary isn’t going anywhere. That is, until an unexpected call turns her world on its head. In spite of all her efforts, Mary can no longer find the strength to hold herself together. She must finally face what happened all those years ago, and answer the question – where on earth is Jim?

Format: Hardcover (416 pages)     Publisher: Century
Publication date: 29th April 2021 Genre: Contemporary Fiction

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Guest Post by Abbie Greaves, author of The Ends of the Earth

“I had the first seeds of the idea that would later become The Ends of the Earth while commuting. As any commuter knows, it’s hardly the most glamourous of times or tasks, but for me, it was certainly fruitful from a creative standpoint! Every day, as I flew through the ticket barriers, elbow to elbow with other passengers, I couldn’t help thinking what it would be like to come to a complete standstill in the midst of this.

What it would be like to stop moving and just wait.

What sort of person would have the fortitude to go against the grain? Why would they be stationary in a place of such motion? And most importantly – who were they waiting for and why?

From there, I began to sketch the character of Mary O’Connor, a forty-year-old woman who has been waiting outside Ealing Broadway station every evening for the last seven years with a sign that reads simply: COME HOME JIM. I knew from the outset that her patience would seem superhuman to most (I say this as a deeply impatient person myself!) so one of my main challenges in writing the novel was to find ways to help readers relate to her unique predicament. The more I wrote, the more I came to believe that her fierce loyalty and resilience is something that we all share, when it comes to the ones we love.

My second big challenge with Mary’s character was how I would go about unpicking it, especially given that privacy is paramount to her. Her family are in Belfast, unaware of her station vigil, and in terms of her friends, as she herself says they are all very much circumstantial – her boss at the supermarket where she stacks shelves and the handful of volunteers at the charity where she spends her long nights of insomnia. It isn’t a case that Mary doesn’t want to be close to these people, more that she feels she isn’t worthy and that she has other more pressing concerns.

But from the first chapter onwards, I was determined to see this attitude crumble away. When Mary receives a phone call from a man she believes is Jim, it’s the catalyst for her walls to begin to break down. It isn’t an easy process for her, letting others in, and in showing Mary’s struggles to open up, I hope I’ve done justice to the reality of that process for so many of us. It’s one thing to say we should accept help from others, quite another to actually do so.

I don’t want to give much away, but it’s not a spoiler to say that Mary’s journey from those first few pages to the last is a testament to both her tenacity and the value of having reinforcements at the ready. It isn’t a case of either/or – self-sufficiency or dependence. Mary has all the tools to construct a brighter future within herself, but she’s been reminded of them by the people who have seen that at close-range.

Mary has a place very close to my heart and I can’t wait to hear what readers make of her – do let me know.”

Abbie GreavesAbout the Author

Abbie Greaves studied at Cambridge University before working in a literary agency for a number of years. She was inspired to write her first novel, The Silent Treatment, after reading a newspaper article about a boy in Japan who had never seen his parents speak to one another before.  Abbie lives in Brighton.

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