Young Muna has lived as a slave to the Songoli family
(mother, father, and two sons) for six years, after being removed from a West African
orphanage at age 8. When the family
immigrates to England, Muna accompanies them. With her nights filled with
horrible abuse at the hands of Mr. Songoli, locked in an unlit basement, and
her days filled with manual labor and beatings by the rod-wielding Yetunda (Mrs.
Songoli), Muna has led a bleak life, devoid of affection and care. This all
changes when the Songolis’ youngest son, overweight and spoiled, fails arrive
home after school. In order to explain
Muna’s presence to the investigators, the family “adopts” her, claiming that
she is their mentally disabled daughter who can neither, read, write nor speak English
(an underestimation that will have surprising consequences for all concerned). They dispose of her basement mattress, dress
her in “Princess’s” cast-off clothing (Yetunda has always forced Muna use this
endearment to address her…in the few times she is permitted to speak), and prop
her up in a neatly furnished bedroom.
Having never been allowed to leave the house since the family’s
immigration, and beaten if she is caught looking out, Muna at first views these
white interlopers with a mixture of fear and superstitious awe (she believes the
lead officer can see into her soul with her piercing blue eyes). Despite her
misgivings, it soon becomes apparent that while suspicion for the boy’s
disappearance looms over the family, Muna’s quality of life is significantly
improved. Upon this rise in station,
Muna begins to engineer her own
reversal of fortune. Fast-paced,
surprising, and short, Minette Walter’s newest novella is highly readable!
Jennifer Wilson
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