Greetings, once again dear reader! 👋🏽
I hope you are doing well and taking good care of yourself.
I’m tempted to say I’m back with a bang and ask if I was missed but I only missed a beat (thanks to fighting for my l̶i̶f̶e̶ degree) so there’s no need to be dramatic. In recent weeks, I grappled with some guilt for not being able to make time to read (and review) books but I’ve had to remind myself time and again that a hobby isn’t a chore and it will be waiting for me whenever I get there. So, we move.
Welcome to another edition of this spectacular newsletter.
Set in Osun state, Nigeria, sometime in the early 2000s, during a period before gubernatorial elections, A Spell of Good Things tells the gripping story of 2 children, Eniola and Wuraola, from different backgrounds whose lives become intertwined [and disrupted] as a result of political corruption where they live. It is the author’s second book, published in 2023.
Eniola is a teenager in senior secondary school whose father had lost his job as a teacher and fallen into depression. His mother does all she can to make ends meet but it’s barely enough. There wasn’t enough money to buy food for regular meals and as such, everything else—including school fees—is considered a luxury.
“Time was unforgiving, it didn’t stop, not even to give people a chance to scrape themselves off the floor if they’d been shattered.”
After school, Eniola goes to the local tailor’s shop where he runs errands. The original plan was to be her apprentice but as with everything else, his parents can’t afford the fees. The tailor is, however, gracious to let him keep coming to her shop.
Wuraola, on the other hand, is a twenty-eight-year-old doctor, and the pride of her parents, the wealthy Otunba and Yeye Makinwa. They would do anything for their children. Her older brother left the prestigious profession to pursue his dreams while her younger sister can’t be bothered about anything, and certainly not becoming a doctor for her parents, so Wuraola was really all they had.
When the landlord threatens to throw Eniola’s family out of the house because they cannot pay the rent, his mother comes up with an idea for them to make some money. They had exhausted all other means, according to her and that was the only way. She’d even gone to see her brother, whom she hadn’t spoken to in years, to ask him for some money. She felt truly helpless and saw no other way.
Eniola does as his mother instructs, eager to help her in any way to relieve the burden his father has left his mother to shoulder alone. When the money comes though, Eniola’s mother only pays his sister’s school fees and he has to leave the school they both attend to go to the public school since it was free of charge.
Eniola meets some boys at his new school who introduce him first to how they get free food every day and eventually, how they get some money for their services. The boy has no idea what he’s getting involved in but it’s too late when he realizes. He is too far gone and everything is at stake.
Wuraola’s obsessive boyfriend proposes to her on the eve of her mother’s 50th birthday and everyone is ecstatic. She loves Kunle but his anger sometimes gets in the way of their otherwise blissful relationship. He is also running his father, Prof. Coker’s campaign, which is backed by Wuraola’s father, his long-time friend.
“The smiles that greeted her spread wider than they had for anything else she’d ever accomplished. The hugs lasted longer, pats on the back transitioned into rubs as though no one wanted to let go of her.”
Prof. Coker’s opponent, Fesojaiye is convinced that the governor’s seat is rightfully his and would go to any length. He tells his boys to teach the man who dared run against him a lesson. If they got to someone close to him, he would get the message, and in a twist of events, Eniola and Wuraola become connected in the way that tragedy connects the victims of political failings.
We see how political corruption affects everyone, regardless of their station. With poverty existing alongside affluence, the author shows us life through a poor boy’s eyes and how he went from being determined to go to university to becoming a political thug. His only crime was being poor and he paid dearly for it.
“Life was war, a series of battles with the occasional spell of good things.”
I expected a lot from this book and it absolutely delivered. Grab your copy now!!!
Have you read this book? What did you think about it? Kindly leave a comment.
If you read this book after reading this review, do come back and share 😊