“Tradition and conservative culture serves as a backdrop for this beautifully heart wrenching tale of love and loss.”

I was very excited to read Hafsatu Bebi by Fatima Bala after reading her previous novel, Broken – Not a Halal love story which has been praised as “A rare and honest insight into a battle between the heart and mind.” 

Her second novel, Hafsatu Bebi, is an emotionally layered and engaging story of a family that tells us that families can be complicated. Every now and then, a book comes along that makes you cancel all your plans and spend the entire time enveloped in the book’s pages- never wanting to leave – Hafsatu Bebi was that book for me this weekend! Engrossing, engaging, and beautifully written with main characters who pull you into their world, a world where the patriarchy and double standards rule, but these women hold their own regardless of their religious and cultural identity.

Hafsatu- Bebi was every bit as moving and compelling as I had hoped it would be. Fatima Bala has proven to be a brilliant storyteller, in my opinion. Her representation of Muslim girls in both books is both powerful and timely. In today’s tense climate, the author manages to tell a story free from all the politics surrounding Muslims, as the story is primarily set in Northern Nigeria. It tells a gripping and emotional story of choice and identity, Hafsatu Bebi had me simultaneously thrilled with excitement and apprehensiveness. Moving in two different eras (1998 and 2021), The novel tells two distinct tales of two Northern Nigerian and Muslim girls. From 1998, Zuwaira is an orphan who lives with her uncle, and she is denied access to education and even a choice of husband. A stark contrast to Hafsatu, who, in 2021, is a recent graduate from the UK, runs her business, smokes shisha, and is in charge of her choices (sometimes not so great) from her dinner to a life partner. She comes from an upper-class, northern elite family with secrets defying the Islamic ideals that govern their daily lives.

Sourced photo

The beautiful way that the author Fatima Bala has accentuated these differences in both women’s realities, not just the stark contrast in their socio-economic status but issues affecting womanhood across decades which range from domestic abuse, infidelity, cyberbullying, loss, and love. The result is both moving and engaging and by the time the reader connects the two stories, the knowledge of how the cards fall is heartbreaking and poignant.

The story is fast-paced and hardly ever dull. It introduced me to a world – the world of Nigerian life – which is strange, fascinating, and yet oddly familiar all at the same time. Fatima Bala’s writing finds an appreciable balance between being clear and yet striking, and not only is the story itself brilliantly constructed, but the back-and-forth pacing is done delicately through characters as they narrate what turns out to be the same story.

Hafsatu Bebi and Broken are available on Amazon and Kindle.