A Whirlwind of Fractured Sisterhood and Dysfunctional Families

In her second novel, Nightbloom, Peace Adzo Medie uses issues associated with womanhood and family dynamics to speak to larger societal issues in Ghana.

Written by Kikachi Memeh

Apr 6, 2024

Nightbloom by Peace Adzo Medie. THE REPUBLIC

If you grew up in West African countries like Ghana, Nigeria, or Senegal, you would understand growing up among extended family members who play a defining role in one’s childhood. This sort of childhood often involves many relatives helping your parents raise you. This help can take many forms; from offering you a wealth of advice (solicited or not) to becoming co-sponsors of your education and upbringing. If you’re lucky, many of them stick around and continue to play active roles in your adulthood. Once you’ve become an adult, the downside to this communal support is the demand for your loyalty to your extended family, even to the detriment of your new immediate family.

Such demand for loyalty causes the family to be at loggerheads; so much so that it can destroy the family. It is a phenomenon we see time and time again, as it is addressed in many African films and books. This is the very issue that caused Yao Lokko’s family to ceaselessly accuse his wife, Lucy, of making sure she and her daughter, Akorfa are ‘the only beneficiaries of [Yao’s] hard work’. The tension between Lucy and her in-laws is so thick that it leads to disputes between herself and her husband, Yao. It doesn’t stop there, the friction between the families goes on to destroy other relationships within the family, including that of Akorfa and her cousin, Selasi. Although Yao, Lucy, Akorfa, and Selasi are fictional characters in Peace Adzo Medie’s sophomore book, Nightbloom, they are emblematic of many African families.

TWO PEAS IN A POD

Set in late eighties Ghana, the story of Akorfa and Selasi starts like any other deep-rooted friendship. The cousin-sisters are inseparable in Ho, a small city in southeast Ghana. They spend their days in Akorfa’s house playing with Barbie dolls, watching episodes of My Little Pony, and eating all the sweets Akorfa’s mom stocks in her home. Akorfa’s quiet, domicile self, paired with Selasi’s outspoken and witty persona, produces an imbalanced but functional relationship that isn’t uncommon in childhood friendships. Their paradise in Ho suddenly vanishes when Selasi is forced to move away from their estate to her grandmother’s house and Akorfa’s family relocates to Accra.

A few years later, Selasi and Akorfa are reunited as they begin secondary school at St. Theresa. Teenage antics, miscommunication, buried feelings and time soon wear away their friendship and it doesn’t take long for them to rid themselves of one another. Akorfa goes to America to pursue her dream of becoming a doctor and Selasi stays in Ghana to make something of herself. The troubles of life force Akorfa and Selasi back together and the opportunity to fix their relationship arises.

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About the Author

Kikachi Memeh

is a Nigerian journalist, writer and multimedia producer. Her work has been published by African Studies Review, Brittle Paper, AMAKA Studios, Vancouver Magazine, Culture Custodian.

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A Whirlwind of Fractured Sisterhood and Dysfunctional Families

TWO PEAS IN A POD