The Son of the House is about two Nigerian women who are kidnapped and tell each other the stories of their lives as they wait to find out their fate. They come from very different backgrounds and so the book showcases a plethora of Nigerian customs and social/familial traditions and expectations.

The fact that this story is based on true events is absolutely heart-wrenching. There were times when I had to stop reading for a bit because the recounted events were so painful.

The story had some pacing issues and as much as I hate to say it, I nearly DNFed a couple of times because I became bored with the story and could see where it was going. The kidnapping was a very small part of the story. The book also ended super abruptly and left me feeling unsatisfied.

Despite these complaints, I enjoyed reading this book and learned a lot while reading it!

This book is an absolute must-read. It has everything you could want in a novel: smart writing, well-developed characters, and a strong plot that keeps you reading. I loved learning about the different lives of Nwabulu and Julie; they’re two Nigerian women from different classes and backgrounds whose lives intersect in an initially unexpected way. Though the book is billed as focusing on the women being kidnapped and sharing their story, that isn’t a huge focus of the novel. Most of the life stories of the two characters are told as standalone story elements before ultimately coming together and then experiencing the kidnapping. I loved each of their stories in their own right.

Nwabulu is a housemaid, which was a concept I didn’t know about Nigerian culture until I read this book. She is sent from her village to a few different families to work and get an educational opportunity. Something happens to her that changes who she is as a person.

Julie is an upper class Nigerian woman who has a different background and as a result a less difficult life than Nwabulu. She faces her own challenges after losing her father and brother and having to decide how to move forward when her mom gets sick. She heads down a path of manipulation that suck the reader into the story.

I loved the pace and plot of the book, but I also LOVED how much I learned about Nigerian culture. There was a lot I looked up as I read, and I was so glad to see pictures of food or people or places the author was referencing. The details were strong. In this book, the author touches on polygamy and marriage traditions, the housemaid culture, local government structure of the umuada and umunna, and more. Those are just a few of the concepts I had no idea about before reading this book. There were many other cultural characteristics that the Igbo (the ethnic group of both Julie and Nwabulu) share with other West African countries that I knew about but learned more about through this writing.

The only thing I wish had been different was the ending. I need to know more. I’m hoping there is another book coming out to explain. But still, that will not change my five star rating.

Honestly, I did not know what to expect from this book but I was fully immersed from the beginning! The story follows the lives of two woman over four decades. Both of the woman had beautiful, heartbreaking stories and I was eager to find out more about each of them!

Their story covers a lot of different themes, such as class and gender, running throughout the book and i enjoyed the experience of being able to learn a bit more about the Nigerian/Igbo customs. I enjoyed this element of the book and it was eye-opening to see how Catholicism/western culture conflicted with these traditional customs.

Each woman had their own story yet it was interesting to see how the author connected the plot points together between the two. I knew when I started reading the story that the two woman must be connected in some way but I just didn’t expect how story to unraveled!

The author revealed the link between the two woman and not long after, the story finished. I felt connected to both woman and their stories and honestly wanted more time with them to see how their stories ended. This is the only negative aspect for me, but I suppose that leaves it up to the reader to imagine their own endings - whether that be happy or sad!

Thank you to @netgalley for the chance to review this in exchange for an honest review! I really enjoyed this book and felt that each theme was well explored and developed, and like all else, integral to the the book. Overall, I give this book four out of five stars

This. Was. Everything. Women’s stories, character driven, solid storytelling, lyrically written. Hardship and resilience, connection, devotion, love, strength, growth, shifting perspectives.

Cheluchi Onyemelukwe-Onuobia immersed me in a world very different from my own but rooted in the woman’s experience, making the content deeply relatable while opening my eyes to encounter new backgrounds. The characters had incredible depth, and I read this in one sitting, eager to follow their lives on an intertwining road through circumstance and time.

The ending is a bit of a cliffhanger but it’s perfect and fits the open nature of the storytelling.

I 100% expect to see this blow up when it releases June 1st and am unsurprised that it has already won an award for Best International Fiction.

Thank you #netgalley and #dundurnhouse for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

#TheSonOfTheHouse #CheluchiOnyemelukweOnuobia #bookstagram #Nigeria

when i read the description of this book, i thought i was in for a kidnapping, drama, thriller, roller coaster type of situation. and it was a roller coaster — but in a much different way than i expected. which, i’m starting to find, is typically a very welcome surprise. and certainly was in this case.

The Son of the House is a story of two women, Nwabulu and Julie, both from Nigeria, but with very different backgrounds and very different stories (a commentary on class), that end up connected in an extremely impactful way. and without saying too much, the way the author articulates this connection and this twist of fate is… i gasped. throughout the book, you can tell that the author trusts the reader, which i always love. as the women’s stories are told, the author weaves in Nigerian settings and culture, painting us a picture of their worlds.

the dialogue and the character development felt authentic at every stage, even while spanning many decades. as the years went on, i still felt immersed in the present moment throughout. at points i was left wondering when and how things would tie together, but i just needed to exercise some patience. the reader grows and learns with the character as they begin to realize the evils and realities of the world around them.

while the story is entirely focused on these women, you can’t ignore the bigger powers at play. these women live in a man’s world and are pressured by societal and familial expectations at every turn. the author articulated the intricacies and uniqueness of how this comes to life in Nigeria specifically. it’s a reminder of, universally, how much pain, hurt, change, heartbreak, unfairness women face — and how they still get back up and keep fighting. how they carry that pain with them, but continue to move forward and provide. it’s also a look into how important female connection and relationships are through it all. even in the situation that these two women find themselves in, not an easy one you’ll come to find, they still have empathy and compassion for the other, against all odds.

"The Son of the House" is absolutely empowering and does not shy away from delving into deep and delicate themes, such as motherhood, womanhood, culture and tradition.

The Son of the House by Cheluchi Onyemelukwe-Onuobia is a story about two women living in the Nigerian city of Enugu. Nwabulu is a young woman from a poor and small village who works as a dressmaker. Julie is a modern woman and second wife to her husband. The paths of the two women, divided by class and social inequality, cross when Julie orders a dress for her son's wedding at Nwabulu's store.

The novel starts when the two women are kidnapped and thrown into a filthy holding cell. They seek comfort from each other by sharing their life stories. They soon discover that their stories are interwoven in ways that will change their lives forever.

This book.. I don't even know where to start. I loved it. It's a story about sisterhood, strength, pain, womanhood, culture and patriarchal values. The characters are well-thought-out and I felt conencted to both Nwabulu and Julie. Their stories celebrate the resilience of women as they navigate what still remains a man’s world.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys to read about other cultures and about strong and powerful women.

This book was something I haven't read before and it came as a surprise
The Son of the House is a fictional story about the power and influence of family and how love between two friends can overcome it. The two protagonists are successful women who come from very different backgrounds, but through an accident of fate, they discover their lives are irrevocably intertwined. As their lives are turned up by this event, they start to tell each other their lives

This reminds me so much of The Help and it gives me the vibes of The Death Of Vivek Oji.
As Nwabullu is 10 years old, she has to work as a housemaid to afford living but unfortunately this is when the book gives ud the first trigger warning which is being sexually abused as a child. We are following Nwabulu as she grows, falls in love with a boy and the book depicts her life as an adult trying to make a way in life. The same goes for Julie, where in her case the situation is a bit harsh since the second triggering we get is death of the loved ones, in her case her brother and father and the decisions she is making awards being left alone in the world.

This book is about making decisions, trying to fit in a world where the social and class injustice, racism and inequality is being normalised. It was a short yet a fulfilling book which made me thing about the decisions I am taking and how people of colour are seen in our world

Thank you #netgalley for an advance copy in exchange of an honest review

This story begins when two Nigerian women from different backgrounds are kidnapped and held captive for ransom. Nwabulu cleans homes for a living, but aspires to be a typist. Julie, a widow, has an education that Nwabulu can only dream of. Julie lives on her own, happy to not be dependent on a man. Because of the kidnapping, the two women are forced together and begin telling one another their life stories in order to pass the time. This was a unique premise and each woman’s story is beautifully rendered on the page. I was completely enthralled by the descriptive writing and the ways in which these women’s lives are intertwined. It’s a novel about family, class and what it means to be woman living in Nigeria. Thank you to Dundurn Press for the advanced review copy.

ARC kindly given by Netgalley*

I don't even know where to start this review... I was pleasantly surprised by it. The writing of Onyemelukwe-Onuobia brings you to the world of two women, who go through different circumstances that made them the way they are. First we are presented Nwabulu, an african woman who suffers the loss of both parens from an early age and what happens to her while trying to make a living for herself. I was devastated (in the best way) by everything this woman goes through to have the chance to education. I was moved by the way the author describes Nwabulu's feelings and thoughts. Once again, this book reminded me to always be kind to strangers.

While Nwabulu's story was captivating to me, I failed to connect with Julie. The contrast between their stories was kind of abrupt to me but at the end, I stayed with everything that Nwabulu's story got me.

It was definitely wasn't an easy book due to harsh situations such as tw: rape, violence both physical and mental, etc. but I keep everything this book taught me.

Great book. Touching story of 2 women from different backgrounds who are kidnapped and tell their stories to while up time. It's a love story without being romantic and tells of the connections the women have with different people through their life journey.

Two words: Trauma and Drama!

In the foreword, the author mentions this is a story inspired by actual events which makes it all the more heartwrenching. The novel opens when two kidnapped Nigerian women are thrown into a filthy holding cell and seek comfort and sanity from each other by sharing their life stories.

While ransoms are demanded, we learn that Julie is a well-educated, wealthy widow who enjoyed a happy childhood in a fairly progressive two-parent home and seemingly basked in the privileges of being a pampered wife. The other, Nwabulu, motherless at childbirth and fatherless by age eight, is horribly mistreated by an uneducated, vengeful, angry stepmother who “sells” her off as a housegirl by age 10. Her childhood is marred by neglect, malnutrition, and molestation. Looking for love in all the wrong places, fate deals her some very hard blows before she catches a break and claims some semblance of happiness and peace.

We learn that both women have an innate resolve and cunning to do what they must to get what they want. The “six degrees of separation” theory is at play and it enjoyable to see how the author cleverly connected the plot points.

There is a lot to unpack in their stories and I learned some things -- the story highlights a myriad of Nigerian/Igbo customs, traditions, and social/familial expectations. As the novel’s title implies, there is a strong male/patriarchal bias that cause havoc and heartbreak at various points of the protagonists’ lives. For example, a common theme was the societal expectations placed on men to sire sons (regardless of whether it’s with their wives or not) to preserve their lineage. There is also pressure for women to enter marriage (early) and embrace motherhood to achieve social approval and acceptance. Children “belong” to their father amid custody disputes. The author also presented the clash some face when European laws and Christian edicts conflict with traditional views toward polygamy, gender bias concerning inheritance, and traditional familial obligations regarding widows and orphans.

I enjoyed my time with this novel and look forward to any future releases from this author.

This highly enjoyable novel has two main characters: Nwabulu and Julie. We meet them in the aftermath of a kidnapping that lefts them imprisoned together as they wait for their ransoms to be paid. To pass the time, they tell each other their life stories.
Nwabulu, orphaned at a young age, is sent out by her stepmother to become a housemaid. In her second placing, she is impregnated by the only son of a wealthy family who quickly drops her. In an attempt to save her honor, her stepmother marries her off to a dead man according to their traditions. Her mother-in-law steals away with her newborn son, and Nwabulu is left bereft. She returns to the town where she used to work, and begins life anew there with the help of her friend's family.
Julie, an educated woman, is pressured to marry after her father and brother die. She fakes a pregnancy in order to marry the rich man with whom she had been having an affair, and then tells him she miscarried. Unable to get pregnant, things become rocky in their relationship. Meanwhile, a relative descends on her best friend's family with a baby in tow, and is soon struck down by illness and dies, leaving the baby without any known family. The relative's family declines to take the baby in, and since Julie has such a connection with him, she and her best friend concoct a plan to make this baby hers.
As you can imagine, this baby is the link between the two women who both struggle through their lives with the expectations placed on them due to their class and gender. They meet years later as Julie goes to Nwabulu, now a tailor, to get new clothing for her son's upcoming wedding. Despite their vast differences, the two are drawn together into a sort of friendship. It is only during the exchange of life stories that their connection becomes clear. The author doesn't provide much beyond establishing their link, so what happens after is left to the reader's imagination. I enjoyed the pacing of the book, which kept my interest and didn't give too much away at once. I had to Google several Nigerian references, so it was also educational in that I learned more about certain traditions, foods, clothing, etc. The characters were well-rounded, and I found myself getting very upset when Nwabulu's son was cruelly stolen from her. All in all, a good read!

<i>The Son of the House</i> is a fictional story about the power and influence of family and how love between two friends can overcome it. The two protagonists are successful women who come from very different backgrounds, but through an accident of fate, they discover their lives are irrevocably intertwined. This is the first novel by the lawyer, academic, and author, Cheluchi Onyemelukwe-Onuobia.

Nwabulu, comes from a small village and has been a housemaid since the age of ten. Her dreams of becoming a typist are shattered when she falls in love with a rich man’s son. Julie is an educated and privileged woman whose life hovers around the men in her family, especially her oldest son. As adults, the women meet when Nwabulu designs a dress for Julie. By coincidence, the two women are kidnapped together and held for ransom. As they wait to be released, they begin to tell each other their life stories just to help pass the time. They soon discover that their lives are interwoven in ways that will change their relationship forever.

This is a very strong and emotional story about relationships. The author does an excellent job of the character development. You get to know the two women extremely well. You are compelled to see how complex their upbringings are and how they become the women are today. There is no evil intent here. It is just two women trying to do the best they can with what they have been given.

The customs in the villages in Nigeria are very interesting. The power of the men in the household and villages, and how this impacts the way men and women are raised is fascinating. The hurdles these two women overcome to become successful and independent are reminiscent of early North America.

The names of the people and villages in Nigeria make it difficult to keep the characters straight. Sometimes it is difficult to determine which people are related to which character but this sorts it out as the story continues. A character index could help.

The story is an excellent one for people who like cultural stories from other countries, as well as, stories about relationships. I give it a 4 on 5. I want to thank NetGalley and Dundurn Press for providing me with a digital copy of this story. Herein I provide an honest review.

A rich and complex debut, Onyemelukwe-Onuobia weaves a dazzling portrait of the lives of two women and their place in 20th Century Nigeria. Divided by class and wealth but brought together by a shared history, Julie and Nwabulu’s story unfolds over forty years, until the moment they’re eventually brought together by a startling series of events.

At times the structure of The Son of the House felt a little clunky, the narrative pacing wasn’t as tight as it could have been but perhaps understandable given that the story spans four decades. Overall this is stellar storytelling, the characterisation is accomplished and the central trauma is handled deftly and with care, you feel both the strength and fragility of Julie and Nwabulu as they struggle to make their way in the world.

I loved reading The Son of the House, the writing is beautiful and vital. Onyemelukwe-Onuobia is certainly one to watch.

I think I can appreciate the intent of this novel, and I definitely believe it has an audience, but there were some things I did not like. For one, the setup of the kidnapping being bookends around what is essentially one long conversation? It felt a little boring, a little slow, a little anticlimactic.

The Son of the House is a beautifully written and emotional debut book by Cheluchi Onyemelukwe –Onuobia. The author is one of the new brilliant storytellers from Nigeria and I am looking forward to more of her stories to come.
The story starts with two women who are kidnapped together who end up sharing their life story to pass the time. Even though these two women come from different worlds their lives are connected more than they know.
The story of these two women starts a few years after the Biafra war, a time when some people where still picking their lives from the events of the war. Nwabulu comes from a poor family, has lost both her parents and is forced by her step-mother to become a housemaid. She suffers abuses from these people but she still has dreams of the life her father envisioned for her when he was alive. For some time, it seems she might achieve this dream when she starts going to school but she ends up being sent home to her abusive step mother when she falls pregnant.
Julie’s story starts when she is an unmarried teacher who is having an affair with a married man. Even though she has achieved success in her life, her mother makes her feel like it is not enough because she does not have a family. She feels like she has failed her late father for not looking after her brother like he asked and not being married like her mother wants. Her desperate need to not disappoint another person in her family leads her to make terrible decisions.
This book shows how patriarchy in our society leads to the suffering of women. How a son who is an alcoholic and doesn’t work is still will still get everything because he is a man. How a man can leave a wife because she couldn’t have sons. And how a child can be sexually assaulted and still be blamed for it. I loved every part of their stories and how they overcame it all and the friendship they build at the end. I loved how the ending left everything to us the readers.

I feel awful rating this book so low, and I certainly didn’t expect it beforehand. I fell for the cover, the colors, the women, all radiating so much power. And I read some books by Nigerian authors, I just finished Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé, and that was so, so powerful! And somehow, I expected The Son of the House to be as powerful. But I didn’t feel power or strength; actually, I just felt too little while reading this story despite its important themes like the role of women in Nigerian society, the role of men related to women, and the importance for Igbo men to have sons.



First of all, the kidnapping is just a very small part of the story. This book is about Nwabulu, a housemaid, and Julie, educated, whose live intertwine and who get kidnapped together. While held captive, they tell each other about their past, starting 40 years earlier. Both women have been through a lot. The story starts when Nwabulu is ten years old and has to work as a housemaid.



The story is a quick read, but it felt flat to me. Nwabulu is sexually assaulted in one of the first chapters, and that should be shocking, but I didn’t feel anything. For me, the story just continued, Nwabulu working as a housemaid again, meeting a rich boy, falling in love for the first time, and so on. The same with Julie’s story, the description of her family, her father and brother's death, the decisions she makes afterward. There were harrowing moments, and as a woman and mom, I wanted to feel the pain. But again, I didn’t. Although the themes are powerful and the writing was good, I just found myself reading, getting bored, instantly happy with the few dialogues and some detailed moments, and then bored again. Only the last 1/3 of the story felt more like I was pulled into the story. Overall, the story was too distant for me (although written in first person) and it lacked depth and emotion to my opinion. Other reviewers gush about this book, so it’s probably on me. If you’re thinking about reading this book, check out the more positive reviews.



This is my Goodreads link:
https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/108960535-marieke-du-pr

When Nwabulu and Julie, two Nigerian women from vastly different social classes, are kidnapped, held captive and forced to await their fates together, they choose to pass the time by sharing their life stories with one another. In doing so, they reveal so much about Nigeria's stifling patriarchy, finding they have much more in common than they ever would have imagined.

In this, her debut, Cheluchi Onyemelukwe-Onuobia announces herself as a major storytelling force and a remarkable new literary talent from a country with a rich legacy of successful international novelists. 'The Son of the House' takes places over a week in a dank, dark room but the stories shared by the two women during their captivity transport us over four decades of vibrant Nigeria in order to tell a captivating story of female resilience, one alive with the language, food and customs of the most populous African nation.

The two women's stories paint a vivid picture of a society still shaped and defined by the patriarchal values of both Igbo tradition and Christian faith. Nwabulu and Julie's lives are tragic and hopeful in equal measure and though there is a sense of inevitability about the narrative contrivances on offer, the collision of these two remarkable women's lives is no less captivating to witness.

I had some issues with the structure overall, but I still admire the author's vital commentary on Nigerian patriarchy- it is a stunning indictment of a society that allows abusive fathers, cruel lovers, wayward brothers and adulterous husbands to take precedence over all women, that still values the birth of 'a Son of the House' above all else. As daughters, sisters, wives and mothers, Nwabulu and Julie's experiences will resonate powerfully for women raised against such values. However, much like Abi Daré's 'The Girl with the Louding Voice', Cheluchi Onyemelukwe-Onuobia celebrates female resilience and relationships in an empowering and, ultimately, hopeful way.

A special thanks to Dundurn and NetGalley for the eARC copy in exchange for an honest review.
4.5 stars.

Two women kidnapped in Nigeria. We hear both their stories separately which were equally very interesting. They find out they are inexplicably linked. I loved the build up but sadly the ending was incredibly rushed which leads me to give this a 3.5 star. Like, what happened to Julie? What happens to Afam? I need to know.