In 2020, Abi Daré released her debut, THE GIRL WITH THE LOUDING VOICE. This instant bestseller introduced readers to Adunni, a 14-year-old Nigerian living in a poor village where women are seen not as wholly realized citizens, but as wives, mothers or property. Adunni dreamed of an education, and in the course of the novel, she discovered the power of her words and found herself in luxurious, glamorous Lagos, working as the servant. In AND SO I ROAR, Adunni continues to hone, champion and power her “louding voice” --- only this time the stakes are even higher.

When we reunite with Adunni, she has just been rescued from a life of abuse and service by Tia, the neighbor of her employer. After a long, arduous wait, she finally has secured Adunni a scholarship to Ocean Academy, a boarding school for the poorest of the poor, open to admission only to girls with no other chance at a future. With her remarkable background and love of words, Adunni is a prime candidate. With Tia’s help, she has more or less secured her future, one in which she can not only earn an education and find success, but rescue her brother from her abusive father’s hold back in her home village of Ikati.

"A necessary read for those who fell in love with this resilient and brilliant protagonist, as well as a novel that can be appreciated on its own, AND SO I ROAR cements Abi Daré’s position as a writer to watch out for, love and celebrate."

But not everything is as it seems. Despite her generous and compassionate care for Adunni, Tia is hiding a few secrets of her own. She and her husband, an infertile gynecologist (it isn’t a Daré story without a bit of irony), have been drifting apart, and a recent traumatic adventure through a fertility ceremony --- the kind that leaves you permanently scarred --- has only driven the wedge between them further. And that's not all. Tia’s mother is dying in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, and Tia feels that this is her last chance to uncover the secrets of her youth, to learn why her mother has always kept her at arm’s length and why she prevented her from marrying her first and most enduring love, Boma.

On a recent visit, Tia confronted her mother and begged to know the truth, only to be turned away and forced to eavesdrop as her mother confided in an aunt: “You are asking me not to tell her?... To carry this secret to my grave? No…. Let me die in peace.” Tia is vindicated and wounded in one fell swoop. She is right that her mother has been hiding something, but the truth is likely to hurt more than the lies. “Sometimes, Tia,” her mother warns her, “we toss ourselves the lifeboat of lies to save us from drowning…. Your father will be away at a business meeting next Wednesday. We can talk then.”

At last, Tia will have it all: Adunni will be secure at Ocean Academy, Tia will know the truth, and she finally can let go of Boma and reassess her marriage. It would make for a beautiful story but a very short novel. Instead, armed men arrive at Tia’s compound in the night, demanding to see “Adunni the killer.” Their village, they tell Tia, has fallen victim to drought. As is custom in their culture, they must put every woman on trial and demand sacrifice to restore peace and equilibrium.

Readers of THE GIRL WITH THE LOUDING VOICE won’t be surprised by these superstitions. But for newcomers, Adunni is there to provide the heart, reminding Tia that belief is a powerful tool, and her village is only doing what they know. Before morning, both Tia and Adunni ride in the backseat of a getaway car, as the village chief and a local sheriff bring Adunni back to Ikati to stand trial. They have 18 hours until the midnight trial, and it is Tuesday --- only one day before Tia’s flight to her mother…and the truth. It seems that Adunni will need her louding voice more than ever.

The main action of the book unfolds over the eventful next 18 hours. Trapped in Ikati, Adunni is able to assess her home with fresh eyes --- eyes that have known opportunity and promise. She is shocked by how unfamiliar everything seems: her best friend (the daughter of her husband, by the way) is 14 and pregnant by the village oracle --- a man who (very conveniently) translates God’s wishes into punishments for women --- and her brother, left to a drunk single father, works for no compensation and has starved down to his skeleton.

However, other issues, made clear through the lens of Tia, are plaguing Ikati’s women: rape and female genital mutilation, but also the ways that deforestation, climate change and tourism have warped and dismantled Nigeria. These are a lot of heavy topics for a novel narrated mostly by a 14-year-old, but in Daré’s deft hands, the powerful themes dovetail beautifully, with the mixed-class friendship between Adunni and Tia grounding the book and giving it a sturdy, well-maintained structure.

As she was in her debut, Daré proves assured and confident as a prose writer, capable of blending the lyric and poetic with the gritty and urban. The result is as likely to deliver a line of laugh-out-loud humor (“I smile at how rich people like Ms. Tia always say special and costly things are handmade…. As if anybody will ever stitch up a bag with their nostrils.”) as it is of striking you right in the heart with its poignant musings on life (“[B]ut is it my home? Why is it bending low at the sight of me, like somebody finding a treasure lost under the table of the world?”)

A necessary read for those who fell in love with this resilient and brilliant protagonist, as well as a novel that can be appreciated on its own, AND SO I ROAR cements Abi Daré’s position as a writer to watch out for, love and celebrate.