Marianne’s Pick of the Week: Cursed Daughters by Oyinkan Braithwaite

“No man will call your house, home. And if they try, they will not have peace. Your daughters are cursed – they will pursue men, but the men will be like water in their palms.” – Cursed Daughters

How do I describe Cursed Daughters, author Oyinkan Braithwaite’s sophomore novel? It follows her successful debut, My Sister the Serial Killer. What I will tell you is that this is an original, genre-bending exploration of family, generational trauma, curses, reincarnation, and the pursuit of happiness.

We begin our story with 25-year-old Monife about to drown herself due to heartbreak. On the day of her funeral her cousin Ebun gives birth to a daughter who looks exactly like her aunt. Little Eiinye is told her entire life, especially by her great Aunty West (Monife’s mother) that she is the reincarnation of Monife. Determined to escape the side-eyes, comments, and talk of the curse from her family, Eniiyi emancipates herself attending high school then university in London. With her masters’ degree in genetic counseling (how apt), Eniiyi returns home to Nigeria to live in the family home with her mother, cousin, and two great aunts.

Braithwaite weaves together the story of these women and how each manages or does not manage the curse. Monife a free and rebellious spirit, tries to defy the curse. She believes that her passionate love with Kalu will end the curse. Ebun, Eniyii’s mother, refuses love when it finds her. She determines that she will not fall victim to the curse and hardens her heart, refusing to take a chance on love. Bunmi’s(or Aunty West) husband abandons her for another woman. She turns to juju and a priestess for help in overcoming the curse. And finally, Eiinye who believes the curse is nonsense until she rescues a young man from drowning and falls in love.

Brithwaite’s use of magical realism is effortless. She creates a dream sequence where Monife speaks to Eniiyi, introduces the myth of Mama Wata and weaves coincidences that are too coincidental to be anything but magic. Her descriptions of Lagos are vibrant and rich. The dialogue is filled with family jokes that humanize and bring depth to the characters. Do our characters believe in the curse or are they simply doomed to recreate the mistakes of the past? I’ll let you, the reader, determine the answer on your own.

This is one for readers of Family Lore by Elizabeth Acevedo or Good Dirt by Charmaine Wilkerson.