Review: The Bishop’s Prodigal Daughter by Timendu Aghahowa.

A review by Boakye D. Alpha

In summary, this read was (kinda) new—refreshing. And funny. 

After reading The Bishop’s Prodigal Daughter, I think African romance is in good hands. 

I have always said that it is rejuvenating to see African authors try out other genres that do not exactly feed the poverty porn and books of hardships that the West wants to read. That is one of the reasons why I was drawn to this book, The Bishop’s Prodigal Daughter by Timendu Aghahowa. I needed to read an African romance book for a change. 

From the marketing of the book, readers were promised good romance and—in my opinion—that is exactly what it gave. 

The Romance:

If there is one thing I appreciate about the kind of romance this novel is, it would be the fact that it didn't turn out to be some kind of Gen Z romance book—the problem with romance stories these days. 

It is a “traditional” romance story between two unexpecting people, in unexpected circumstances who fall in love against all odds. It plays so well into the “opposites attract" romance trope as Elo and Datonye, two individuals with contrasting personalities and backgrounds (with their families also feuding) find themselves drawn to each other despite their differences. Although the trope is tired, hats off to the author for making the story new and not falling into the cliché ditch. 

Why I say there is a newness to the story is the whole church setting and how things—the drama and romance—unfold. 

This novel vividly alludes to the parable of the prodigal son from the Bible with a few twists of its own.

This book doesn't get itself unnecessarily complicated. It is straight to the point and makes for an easy (and definitely a gripping) read.

Characters:

I like Elo’s character. I like that she knows who she is, what she stands for and stands by her principles. She is as stubborn as a mule. And that is the only problem I have with her character development. I feel she didn't exactly change from being that person despite everything that happened. The arc there is a bit lost to me. 

Elo was just a lot of trouble and I love that although, I must admit, at some point, I found her a little too irritable. Perhaps that was how the author intended it. How she is quick to anger and always ready to cause havoc with her mouth at some point became a lot for me. I guess that was her character and there are people like that. Capturing such a personality so close to reality deserves applause. 

While I didn't agree with some of the decisions she made, I still found myself caring about her and rooting for her to get what she wanted. 

One of my favourite moments with Elo was the encounter she had with Datonye’s parents the first time she went to the church (chapter 9). 

Datonye was really perfect for Elo. With the kind of mouth and temper she had, she needed a man like Datonye. However, I like that the author didn't make him too perfect like most male characters in romance novels. In the beginning, you would think he is (even in the whole pastoral aspects) but you later find out (as he admits it himself ) that he has his shortcomings and he is not as perfect as they think he is. 

For Zino, “ the daughter who stayed”, if I begin to talk about her, I might turn this review into a rant session. As seen in the parable, and as is the case of similar stories, the child who stays always feels they have been treated unfairly. While the others wandered off doing whatever they liked, they stayed and did all the heavy lifting but when the prodigal child returned, they were highly favoured. That was the case of Zino. It must suck to be in her shoes but I also felt her bitterness was a little overstretched especially when she knows that (unlike the other stories) Elo didn't want to come back. She was “forced” to. Nothing was her fault. She had to cut her some slack and chill. Well done to the author for creating such a character to give me screaming moments during my read. 

Final Words:

Anyway, If ever there is a book 2, which I hopelessly believe, it would be nice to see the love story of Zino and Tosan. There was something there and it would be nice to see. 

In the end, I was happy those two, especially Elo, didn't kill the Archbishop.

If you are a sucker for a good and unusual romance novel set (mostly) in an African church with relatable characters and good pacing that you probably get through within 24 hours then I recommend this book to you.

RATING: 🌟🌟🌟🌟 (4 Stars)