Yejide Kilanko’s debut novel, Daughters Who Walk This Path is a searingly beautiful story. Set in Ibadan Nigeria, with a timeline spanning the 70s to the 2000s. Daughters Who Walk This Path touch on very important subjects that people in society prefer to sweep under the carpet.

The book begins by illustrating the darkness that comes with superstition in African society. The newborn “Afin”( a derogatory term used to refer to people with albinism) is called Eniayo, the sister of Morayo.

People in society have believed that with Albino babies, “all they do is bring bad luck.” Little Morayo, overhearing the neighbours speak about the new baby and not knowing any better, began to avoid her baby sister, however, superstition is not the main focus of this novel but Morayo’s journey after being brutally raped by her cousin is.

Morayo’s life changed forever when she got raped by Tayo “Bros T” as he was fondly called by Morayo and Eniayo. Why did Morayo not speak up when her cousin first forced himself on her? The answer to this question is answered by how sex education is handled in most African homes. Boys are expected to just “figure it out” and the girls are expected to keep their legs closed until marriage. I think Morayo is lucky because she had auntie Morenike who was there to help her fight depression.

I am happy that there are more Africans who are aware of mental health and are more open to discussing things. Unfortunately, Morayo’s parents were not aware that they had to protect the mental health of their daughter. She was alienated, rather than finding ways to help her. Aunty Morenike easily warmed her way into my heart because of how loving she was. Not only was she a huge support system but also an inspiration.

I loved that Yejide made sure to add a plethora of strong female characters in this book. Besides telling us a beautiful story, Yejide did well in some sections of the book to feed us with African Fables and began every chapter with an African proverb/saying.

You can read this book if you like books which will excite emotion or maybe you want to unlearn a lot.

For me, after reading this book, I could not stop going on and on about bad parenting in my latest vlog.