The Girl with the Louding Voice
Adunni is a fourteen-year-old Nigerian girl whose dying mother has asked her to get a schooling, to find her voice, to become the girl with the louding voice. After her mother's death, her father sells her into marriage with a much older man who already has two other wives, and when that household becomes untenable Adunni is trafficked further to Lagos as a house girl for a wealthy, abusive madam. Working in the kitchen and dodging her employer's husband, she finds small openings toward an education: a secret scholarship, a kind neighbor, a friend who believes her. Abi Daré's debut, narrated in a deliberate broken-English voice that grows in precision as Adunni grows in confidence, is a fierce, hopeful novel about domestic labor, girls' education, and the voice a survivor teaches herself to use.
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Adunni is fourteen when her father sells her in marriage to a much older man in their Nigerian village. After a tragedy in the household she is sent to Lagos to work as an unpaid house girl for a wealthy family, where she clings to her dream of going back to school.
Yes. The Girl with the Louding Voice was a Reese's Book Club pick, won the Desmond Elliott Prize, and was a New York Times bestseller. It was Abi Dare's debut novel.
The Girl with the Louding Voice uses the protagonist Adunni's distinctive voice in non-standard English. The voice takes adjustment but is intentional and expressive. Most readers find it rewarding once they settle into the rhythm.
The Girl with the Louding Voice was written by Abi Daré, published in 2019 by Verus.
The Girl with the Louding Voice is 432 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, The Girl with the Louding Voice takes most readers 6 to 9 hours to finish.
The Girl with the Louding Voice is a standalone novel by Abi Daré, not part of a series.
The Girl with the Louding Voice is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.
