Name: Sankofa
ISBN: 9780349013138

CHIBUNDU. ONUZO

Sankofa

Chibundu Onuzo

Girl, Woman, Other meets An American Marriage in this gripping story of a mixed-race woman who goes in search of the African father she never knew, by a prize-winning writer who "brilliantly captures the essence of a people and a place" (Nicole Dennis-Benn). Anna is at a stage of her life when she's beginning to wonder who she really is. She has separated from her husband, her daughter is all grown up, and her mother--the only parent who raised her--is dead. Searching through her mother's belongings one day, Anna finds clues about the African father she never knew. His student diaries chronicle his involvement in radical politics in 1970s London. Anna discovers that he eventually became the president--some would say dictator--of a small nation in West Africa. And he is still alive... When Anna decides to track her father down, a journey begins that is disarmingly moving, funny and fascinating. It raises universal questions of race and belonging, the overseas experience for the African diaspora, and the search for a family's hidden roots. Masterful in its examination of freedom, prejudice, and personal and public inheritance, Sankofa is a story for anyone who has ever gone looking for a clear identity or home, and found something more complex in its place.

momo-reads

Kristen Claiborn

Do we all go through a huge transition in our mid-40s (or thereabouts)? Is that what is called a “mid-life crisis?” I also upended my life around the same age, and so now I’m curious if we all go through some form of this. I’m trying to decide if I sould be envious of people that make it through this age without some huge life changes…like…do people really just stay happily married? The whole time? And they’re happy? I’m intrigued, but those people probably don’t make the best stories for a novel. 
	Anna’s story is pretty fascinating. Imagine not knowing a single thing about your father, then one random notebook completely turning your world around. Anna was also in a position to try to connect with him. Most of us have jobs, mortgages, families, and dogs we can’t just up and abandon while we try to convince an African dictator he’s the dad. There aren’t even many of us that can go continent hopping either, so her adventure is one-of-a-kind. The way she reacts to all of her experiences is like she’s never done anything like it before (now that I’ve written that down, I realize that she really hasn’t done anything like it before…), almost with the curiosity of a child. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This is a beautiful, character-driven story about Anna, whose search for her father leads her from London to a small country in Africa. The author explores themes of grief, family, home, and who we are at our core.

Cheri McElroy

Cindy Lieberman

A middle-aged woman of Welsh and African descent on the verge of divorce from her white husband finds a key to her African heritage in her late mother’s personal effects. Race figures prominently, especially how she is viewed as black in London and white in Africa. It is also about her journey to reclaim her heritage and, in many respects, push through her own midlife crisis to find herself.

Lauren Attaway

This book, and the protagonist Anna by extension, felt like a living breathing thing to me. I loved stepping into her life and going along with her as she navigated looking for the father she never knew. I think this book really handled the questions of multiracial identity in a way that felt relatable and still very new.

Isabel 

Alisha Raghavan 

Kirsten Haney

A woman wondering who she really is goes in search of a father she never knew—only to find something far more complicated than she ever expected—in this moving and hopeful novel of self-discovery for readers of An American Marriage. Anna is at a stage of her life when she's beginning to wonder who she really is. In her 40s, she has separated from her husband, her daughter is all grown up, and her mother—the only parent who raised her—is dead. Searching through her mother's belongings one day, Anna finds clues about the African father she never knew. His student diaries chronicle his involvement in radical politics in 1970s London. Anna discovers that he eventually became the president—some would say dictator—of a small nation in West Africa. And he is still alive... When Anna decides to track her father down, a journey begins that is disarmingly moving, funny, and fascinating. Like the metaphorical bird that gives the novel its name, Sankofa expresses the importance of reaching back to knowledge gained in the past and bringing it into the present to address universal questions of race and belonging, the overseas experience for the African diaspora, and the search for a family's hidden roots. Examining freedom, prejudice, and personal and public inheritance, Sankofa is a story for anyone who has ever gone looking for a clear identity or home, and found something more complex in its place.

Sankofa

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