REVIEW: This Motherless Land

A short review of This Motherless Land by Nikki May.

I was lucky enough to receive an Advanced Reader’s copy of This Motherless Land by Nikki May about a month ago. I waited until now to read it just so I could give it all the time and focus that I could, and I am very glad that I did. I read the entire book while sitting practically unmoving in the coffee shop at the Tate Modern, absolutely hooked on the story.

The book follows a girl, Funke, as she is forced to move from her home in Lagos, Nigeria to live with her aunt and cousins in their home in Somerset, England when her mother and younger brother are killed in a car accident. The book spans twenty years, highlighting themes of grief, immigration, racism, class, and sisterhood. 

One of the best aspects of the book was the main character, Funke/Katherine, who perfectly depicts the struggle between having two places to call home and yet feeling a lack of belonging. She shows the resilience and strength that one must have when moving so far from home and yet still treating all those around her with kindness, including her aunt who wants absolutely nothing to do with her. I felt that her character was real and deeply developed in a way where my heart broke for her for every hardship she went through. 

The other supporting characters were mostly exceptionally strong, including her cousin Liv, who depicted what it is like to come through despair and drug addiction when working through grief of her own. The only character I did not enjoy was Funke’s aunt, Liv’s mother. She was caricaturish in her meanness, akin to the evil stepmother from Cinderella. We were only given a very short backstory of Liv’s mother and her sister, Funke’s mother, and why their relationship fell apart. There didn’t seem to be any straightforward reasons for her wickedness except that she just is. I wish we had been able to dig deeper into that relationship, and how that sisterhood fell apart, as well how Funke and Liv came together. 

I also think that it does the book almost a disservice to call it a re-telling of Mansfield Park. By putting that descriptor so prominently on the back of the book it gives the reader an idea of what the plot is going to be. When the story diverted heavily from the Mansfield Park storyline, and the only significant similarity is a young girl leaving home to live with her cousins, I almost felt disappointed that the story wasn’t what I expected. I wish that they had left out the Mansfield Park tie from the book’s marketing and let it shine and flourish on its own because I am convinced that it is more than good enough to be marketed as nothing but itself. 

I would absolutely recommend this book, but don’t expect it to be anything like Jane Austen. Read it if you want to read a book about grief, resilience, and strong female relationships. 

4 stars

Where to buy online: https://www.waterstones.com/book/this-motherless-land/nikki-may/9780857527806

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