YINKA, WHERE IS YOUR HUZBAND? A Novel

4.5★s

Yinka, Where Is Your Huzband? is the first novel by British-Nigerian author, Lizzie Damilola Blackburn. After a humiliation at her sister's baby shower, where her youngest aunt led a prayer for her to find a husband, Yinka Olajedi decides a plan is necessary: Operation Wedding Date will ensure she has a date for her cousin Rachel's wedding. And prove to all the Nigerian aunties and cousins that she won't still be single at sixty.

Her job as operations manager at Godfrey and Jackson investment bank gives her the perfect skills to set out her Objective, Task Deadlines and KPIs. If she doesn't meet someone at Rachel's engagement party, she might go to her mother's All Welcome Church to meet Alex, the man her Aunt Debbie has singled out; online dating will be her absolute last resort.

At the party, though, she discovers that there is no chance of reviving her relationship with Femi Ajaye, the man who broke her heart three years earlier by going to a job in New York City; she's too upset to interact with any other man by then. So the church it is.

Meanwhile, having bragged about a coming promotion, she's lost her job, so is reluctant to share that news, hoping she'll have another job before her mother finds out. Pressure from this Nigerian mother to achieve, to utilise her education, is legend, almost as heavy as the weight of finding a husband.

Alex looks to be perfect, says and does the right things, and Yinka wants to impress. But will he want her, as black as she is? And changing herself to win his attention, is that wise, long term? Or should she stick to her best friend, Nana's tattooed motto: "I am who I say I am."

As well as the straight first-person narrative, the story is told with emails, Whats-App messages, internet search history and voicemail transcripts. It looks at values and self-worth, being true to oneself as well as achieving balance between tradition and contemporary attitudes.

Blackburn's depiction of the London Nigerian community certainly feels authentic. Her characters have depth and appeal, quickly endearing themselves to the reader. There's plenty of humour in the banter between the characters, and even if the astute reader has Yinka's ultimate hook-up figured out early on, the journey to that reveal is lots of fun. A very entertaining debut.

This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Penguin UK.