7 Novels About African Women in All Their Complexities

I feel the thing people love the most about witnessing messy moments is the ability to look someone in the eye and see the humanity behind them. It’s the recognition; When someone screws up, it can sometimes make us feel like we don’t have to be so perfect either; that our humanness goes beyond social media aesthetics.

In Pride and Joy, I spent a lot of time trying to craft the perfect Joy—the protagonist of the book—but at every turn, Joy’s neurosis and constant need to prove her worth to her family was like sweet sabotage. Joy Okafor Bianchi spends months trying to plan the perfect birthday party for her Mom’s 70th, only for the festivities to be upstaged in the most surprising, ludicrous way. With the majority of her family already gathered at a rental home north of Toronto, it seems like the perfect recipe for perfect disaster, and her ability (or lack thereof) to navigate it all will be tested on the holiest of days in the Christian calendar: Good Friday.

Pride and Joy isn’t just Joy’s story; it’s a story of family and faith, and all the imperfection that comes with it. Through writing this book, I’ve learned to lean into imperfection and have been guided along by some other amazing writers and their female African protagonists. Here are 7 of my favorite contemporary works featuring imperfectly perfect African women:

Maame by Jessica George

Maame is Maddie, a young British-Ghanaian woman in London, who is finally learning to get her wings. Parentified her entire life, she takes her duties as primary caretaker for her ill father very seriously. But when her mother returns from Ghana, Maddie moves out on her own and has a series of firsts on the path to learning who she is. Maame is charming, moving, and real, and Maddie’s fumbles are as triumphant as her victories.

Yinka, Where is Your Huzband? by Lizzie Damilola Blackburn

“Where is your husband?” is an oft-heard phrase by many African women from the ages of 25 and up, so Yinka is timeless right off the bat. Yinka, a successful woman living in London, decides to battle the pressures of singledom by trying to find a date for her cousin’s upcoming wedding. The problem is that Yinka starts to feel as if she must change certain things about herself to find what she’s looking for, when in fact maybe the thing she’s looking for has been herself all along.

Ties That Tether by Jane Igharo

What could be messier than a woman coming from a strict Nigerian family falling in love with someone who isn’t Nigerian? What about if said woman made a promise to her deceased father to maintain her culture through marriage? Ties That Tether follows exactly that premise with Azere, a successful businesswoman, whose one night stand with handsome, tall—and white—Rafael turns her entire world upside down. In this contemporary romance, Azere has to choose between following her heart or seemingly disappointing her family.

My Sister, The Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite 

As the title alludes, this thriller is the definition of “imperfect protagonist”. Set in Lagos, Nigeria, it follows two sisters: Korede, a nurse, and her younger sister Ayoola, who just can’t seem to stop killing her boyfriends. Korede is often tasked with helping Ayoola get rid of the body, the act of which constantly tests the sibling relationship. Though Korede is very fond of her younger sister, she worries that one day her sister will get caught and she will really have to reckon with the lengths she’s willing to go to to protect her.

How You Grow Wings by Rimma Onoseta

How You Grow Wings follows the story of two sisters in Nigeria: Cheta, who is bold and fiery, and Zam, who is timid and doesn’t aspire to rock the boat. Both sisters navigate colorism, favoritism, classism, and cycles of abuse through the ups and downs of their life. Once Zam is invited to stay with wealthy relatives and Cheta leaves home to escape the pressures and pain of living with her mother, the two girls’ lives diverge until they’re forced to come back together again. 

Honey & Spice by Bolu Babalola

Kiki Banjo, the protagonist of Honey & Spice, gets embroiled in the messiest of conflicts at Whitewell University: publicly kissing—and then fake dating—the proclaimed “Wasteman of Whitewell” Malakai Korede, putting her personal and professional brand in jeopardy. Honey & Spice is funny and classic. Not only is Kiki faced with confronting her own preconceived notions about herself and about love, but her friends and listeners of her campus podcast “Brown Sugar” are also shown reckoning with their presumptions in very public ways. 

The Three of Us by Ore Agbaje-Williams

The Three of Us follows a married couple and their forever third-wheel, Temi, over the course of one day. Temi drops by, as always, to see her friend, simply called ‘the wife’, but today isn’t like other days. The wife has something she’d like to share with Temi, that despite the seeming perfection of her life (nice house, affectionate husband), she would like to have a baby of her own. For better or worse, this transforms Temi, and readers will quickly get to see just how uncomfortably tight this throuple is.