Olunosen Louisa Ibhaze

Purple Mangoes.. Olunosen Louisa Ibhaze

Purple Mangoes is a collection of 12 relatable short stories focused on Nigerian women and girls, recounting gendered practices as a subtle reminder of the importance of new attitudes and change. The stories focus on the female sociocultural "experience" in Nigeria with a touch of humor, sarcasm and redemption as it examines the daily experiences of women in an African context, delving into issues ranging from love, marriage, childbirth, witchcraft, prostitution and circumcision. The collection opens with " The Child Widow" as Laraba a child bride who has been accused of killing her elderly husband narrates her ordeal as she endures widowhood rites."The rite of passage" focuses on a young girl's last thoughts before her initiation into womanhood as, "the forbidden roses that stoke the embers of desire", are prepared to be taken out in a circumcision ceremony. In "Witch Child" Ubong's mother struggles to keep her daughter who has been accused of witchcraft safe and has to resort to desperate measures when Ubong's father chases the child with a machete after accusing her of being the cause of his misfortune. "Hospitality Business" tells the story of young Adesuwa, who is taken to Europe by her cousin to work in the "hospitality business" as a way of helping her family back home. On getting to Europe, she discovers that the "hospitality Business" sung to her back home is actually prostitution and she has to make tough choices. To either hand herself over to the police and be deported or weather the storm and free her family from the claws of poverty.