Wednesday, March 09, 2016

The Cellar by Minette Walters

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

No comments: