Review of This Motherless Land

Now I have to add Mansfield Park to my TBR list! I've seen a movie of this Jane Austen book and may have read it years ago but now it's on my re-read list since Mansfield Park and This Motherless Land run along parallel paths.

More about This Motherless Land

From the acclaimed author of Wahala, a stunning reimagining of Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park: Split between England and Nigeria, two extraordinary cousins are set on vastly different paths as they come to terms with their shared family history—a masterful exploration of race, identity, and love. 

Quiet Funke is happy in Nigeria. She loves her art teacher mother, her professor father, and even her annoying little brother (most of the time). But when tragedy strikes, she’s sent to England, a place she knows only from her mother’s stories. To her dismay, she finds the much-lauded estate dilapidated, the food tasteless, the weather grey. Worse still, her mother’s family are cold and distant. With one exception: her cousin Liv.

Free-spirited Liv has always wanted to break free of her joyless family. She becomes fiercely protective of her little cousin, and her warmth and kindness give Funke a place to heal. The two girls grow into adulthood, becoming the closest of friends in this coming of age story.

But the choices their mothers made haunt Funke and Liv and when a second tragedy occurs their friendship is torn apart. Against the long shadow of their shared family history, each woman in this compelling work of literary fiction will struggle to chart a path forward, separated by country, misunderstanding, and ambition.

Moving between Somerset and Lagos over the course of two decades, This Motherless Land is a sweeping family saga and an examination of identity, culture, race, and love that asks how we find belonging and whether a family’s generational wrongs can be righted.

More About Nikki May

Born in Bristol, raised in Lagos, I’m proud to be Anglo-Nigerian. I ran a successful ad agency before turning to writing and now live in Dorset with my husband, two standard schnauzers, and way too many books.

My debut novel WAHALA was inspired by a long (and loud) lunch with friends. It was published around the world in January 2022 and is being adapted into a major BBC TV drama. This Motherless Land is my second novel.

Thoughts about This Motherless Land

This Motherless Land showed up on my doorstop as a gift and I'm embarrassed to say that it sat on my shelf for months before I picked it up. What was I waiting for? This was an amazing book that swept me up in it's drama. I enjoyed seeing the similarities and the differences between England and Nigeria (as well as the people that live it each country). So many of the characters felt...familiar. They reminded me of people I know in the real world.

Author Nikki May did a wonderful job creating a believable friendship between Liv and Funke which made their estrangement even more powerful (I won't say any more...trying to avoid spoilers). This book grabs a hold of your emotions. I found myself fiercely rooting for some characters and hating others. But even my hate was tempered by more complicated feelings...pity, sadness, regret. Although I guessed a few of the twists, there were several developments that took me by surprise.

This is a book that will make you think and would make a great book club selection. There book will give you so much to talk about!