Cursed Daughters by Oyinkan Braithwaite
Oyinkan Braithwaite’s Cursed Daughters is an intricate, multi-generational saga set in Lagos, Nigeria, exploring the lives of the Falodun women who are believed to be under a historical curse. The narrative is structured non-linearly, weaving together the lives of Monife (the “cursed” daughter of the 1990s), her cousin Ebun (who bears the weight of Monife’s legacy), and Ebun’s daughter Eniiyi (the modern descendant who must decide if she is a reincarnation or her own person). The story is framed by the legend of Feranmi Falodun, the matriarch whose conflict with her husband’s first wife supposedly triggered a curse that all Falodun women would “love in vain” and “suffer for man’s sake”. The Prologue: The End as a Beginning The novel opens with a visceral scene of Monife’s suicide at Elegushi beach. Described as a “mermaid” and “queen of song,” Monife wades into the cold, dark waters not out of a desire for death itself, but as an “inevitable consequence” of a tragedy that has already occurred. Her last thoughts are a defiant act of surrender directed at “Golden Boy,” hoping his heart would “shatter into a million glittering, self-pitying pieces”. This act of self-destruction sets the stage for the rest …