The first few chapters of this remarkable debut novel drew me in, and I liked the way the story was being told through the eyes of Adunni the main character in the novel. Towards the end though, I couldn’t wait to finish reading it. I kinda lost my interest because as an African myself, I felt that Adunni’s life as a house girl was rather predictable. Lol I know what goes on in Africa! So saying, as a writer myself (Soft in Flowers), I recognised this story for what it was. In Africa this is a no brainer and Adunni’s life’s struggles  are really quite common. Happens all the time in Africa. However, bringing this novel into its element, I would probably have introduced a different narrative to this particular story, by perhaps placing Adunni in a white household or working for a family with a rich political Nigerian History.  Unfortunately this particular story was based on a true story, so that my idea to shake things up a bit would not have rung true or done wonders for the narrative. One has to be mindful that writing these type of stories one has to stay on the path of authenticity. So I find it quite frustrating that African stories are becoming quite predictable and a little stale. They are either pre-colonial or post colonial so obviously narratives are shifting continuously BUT they still seem to be limited in their scope and won’t go out of boundary. By that I mean, perhaps telling stories with bite. For instance how traditional Africans in general simply cannot accept homosexuality, yet child marriages are the norm. How teachers in an African setting would never ever conceive of the notion of having an affair with one of their students, yet post colonial - it might be a problem in some secondary schools etc. The only worrying thing about this is that unless a story is profoundly moving, it becomes like the many lives out there that are the norm. In a world where people will often not see the ludicrous biases of people in society, who say, attend church and pray to Jesus at the same time dressed to their nines reeling of expensive perfumes and colourful hats, yet hide their monstrous behaviours in the way they treat people who live below the poverty line. Christians do this very well, and I have yet to see a writer who tackles every aspect of an African child’s life with sensitivity and great seriousness because I don’t think we’ve seen or read anything about a child forced to work from the tender age of 5 to help feed their families. Abi Dare seemed to just skim on the edges of the fact the maids were not allowed to worship in the main building, while the elite were separated (as it were) by their status and wealth. This was not a political novel, nor was it a novel about society; but centred only on the characters life’s struggles and how she was battling to overcome them. Finally, I read a few reviews and one went so far as to suggest that this novel was written and targeted for a white audience. Why? Because this type of storyline is a common occurrence in Africa so that the idea of using Nigerian street English was clever, but unremarkable. I’m not sure I agree with that because I personally felt moved by Adunni’s POV and the way she spoke English. What’s impressive is that Abi Dare dared to write and relate this story from Adunni’s perspective with brilliant clarity. What would have happened though if Adunni’s employer was a Diplomat or a Saudi, Chinese or Indian family? Would the narrative have posed similar terrifying prospects? Africans enslaving other Africans for money simply shows that the abolition of slavery in 1833 just managed to shift the goalposts - nothing more. I have given this story 4 stars because it was certainly a fascinating read. But still feel the Author might have accelerated the difficult aspects of the fact Christianity in Africa seems to be battling with what normal people don’t recognise as False Prophets and the aspects of dealing with the devil in our midst and how these people operate to deceive and so forth. Sure, Dare did a good job of it, but she merely skimmed the surface. So no, I feel this story was not specifically targeted for a white audience, but just told it as it is. She was bold but could have been bolder! My two cents!