Why a Booktrail?
1981: How a boy from Brixton and a girl from Lagos escape their dark past and find themselves a bright future
The Book of Echoes
What you need to know before your trail
1981, and England looks forward to a new decade. But on the streets of Brixton, it’s hard to hold onto your optimism, especially if you are a young black man. Racial tensions rumble, and now Michael Watson might land in jail for a crime he did not commit.
Thousands of miles away, village girl Ngozi abandons her orange stall for the chance to work as a maid. Alone in a big city, Ngozi’s fortunes turn dark and soon both her heart and her hopes are shattered.
From dusty roads to gritty pavements, Ngozi and Michael’s journey towards a better life is strewn with heartache and injustice . When they finally collide, their lives will be transformed for ever.
Travel Guide
BookTrail an echo across time from London to Nigeria
West India docks, in London.
A ghostly presence opens the novel at the West India Docks. A ghost of a woman who remembers what happens here when she and her baby were dragged away to be slaves. She has never seen her son or daughter since and she can hear their cries so hangs around here in the hope that she will find them one day.
Nigeria
The villages mentioned in the novel such as Obowi, Obiada and Nnesi are all ficitonal but the city of Lagos is of course very real.
Obowi is the village where the ghost of the mother left her son before the slave owners took her. The scenes here are ones of poverty and pain. Bad and tragic memories.
It is here in Obowi that we meet Ngozi.
BookTrail Boarding Pass: The Book of Echoes
Destination/location: London,Lagos, Nigeria Author/guide: Rosanna Amaka Departure Time: 1980s
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