Overview:
The back cover describes ANCESTOR STONES as "The story of 20th-century Africa told through the lives of four remarkable women", which is as ridiculous as claiming a novel set in Scotland is the story of Europe. Africa is a vast, complex and incredibly diverse continent which is too often made conveniently homogenous. Yet for those who know it only through potent media images of poverty, corruption and war, here is a wonderfully ambitious novel written from the inside, opening up a particular society and delving deeply into the hearts, histories and minds of women.
Set in a fictional west African location most resembling Sierra Leone, Ancestor Stones is made up of multi-layered stories narrated through the voices of four women in the Kholifa family: cousins Asana, Mary, Hawa and Serah , whose different mothers are all married to the patriarch Gibril, a rich man who, by the time he dies aged 100, has acquired 11 wives. Asana, the oldest, is the daughter of Gibril's first wife Namina, a revered position because she assumes authority over subsequent wives. Her story begins in 1926 with her father's journey into the forest to found a new village, Rofathane, and start a coffee plantation. When she is 10 her favoured twin brother Alusani dies, and Asana hopes to win her mother's affections, but Namina, believing her daughter is possessed by the dead twin, becomes obsessed with exorcising his spirit instead.
The women's triumphs and tragedies are played out within a society in transition over the better part of a century: colonialism, independence and the horrors of civil war are so subtly and deftly woven into the stories that it takes a while to realise that major national shifts have taken place. While the four narrators are vehicles for inspired storytelling and beautifully crafted prose, it's a shame that their voices are not more distinctive, as eventually they blend into each other and it's easy to get lost. And they are sometimes too respectfully portrayed, lacking the foibles and humour that would create more empathy.
ENJOYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!
Sincerelyours
And Blessed Are The Ones Who Care For Their Fellow Men!
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