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Synopsis

The Son of the House follows the experience of Nwabulu, a woman who survives her childhood as an abused housemaid to become a woman in her own right.

When Nwabulu’s father dies, she is eight years old. At that age, she is a complete orphan, having also lost her mother at birth. Nwabulu is left with her stepmother, Mama Nkedilim, who constantly abuses her physically and verbally. One day, when Nwabulu is barely eleven, Mama Nkedilim sends her to Lagos to work as a housemaid for a woman called Mama Emma.

In Lagos, Nwabulu suffers physical abuse from Mama Emma, who uses her to the point of exertion and refuses to send her to school as agreed. Apart from physical abuse, Nwabulu, almost eleven at the time, is regularly raped by Papa Emma. Just when Nwabulu is coming to accept her fate, Mama Emma catches her husband. Mama Emma pours her venom on Nwabulu, wounding her with a knife and almost killing her. Eventually, Nwabulu is sent back to the village, where she returns to a life of chores and curses.

 

Years later, Nwabulu, an accomplished fashion designer, wife and mother acquires a new client, a wealthy older woman who Nwabulu comes to call Aunty Julie. Nwabulu and Julie come to become good friends. One day, when Nwabulu goes to Julie’s house to deliver her clothes, they are both abducted by kidnappers who demand ransom for their release. While in Abduction, Julie and Nwabulu swap stories.

 

The Son Of The House won the

2019 Sharjah Best International Fiction Prize Award.

2021 NLNG Prize for Literature.

Cheluchi Onyemelukwe