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Reviewed by Jamie Michele for Readers' Favorite
Yaw Agawu-Kakraba’s The Executioner’s Stepdaughter is set in 1960s London, where Nii Narh Okine is a Ghanaian medical researcher living far from Accra, bound by his mother Ameley’s warning that England must give him a doctorate, not a white wife. His father, Obo Okine, was killed years earlier by British colonial police after a veterans’ march in the Gold Coast, so love in London carries more than private risk. When Nii Narh meets Charlotte Mackintosh, a dancer with her own painful family past, their bond unsettles the promise waiting for him in Ghana with Patience, the woman his family expects him to marry. As Nii Narh’s future draws closer, a hidden connection between Charlotte’s household and Obo’s death threatens every plan he has made.
Yaw Agawu-Kakraba’s The Executioner’s Stepdaughter is a spectacular historical novel. The author does a wonderful job of steeping the story in period details, whether it is Gold Coast veterans petitioning colonial officials for Second World War pensions, or the Big Six signaling Ghana’s push toward self-rule. The author fleshes out the main character, Nii Narh, and we see his arc and journey from a son who just kind of goes along with all that is expected of him to a man who knows his own mind and heart, and is willing to fight for it. The author gives the same treatment to the ancillary characters, and I love Bisi, the wife of Nii Narh’s Jamestown fisherman uncle. The author breathes life into each setting, from Africa House and its placement in 1960s diaspora London to Legon’s Lower Hill bungalow. Well written and immersive, this is the perfect read for those who adore Ghanaian independence-era fiction and family-rooted historical drama. Very highly recommended.
