Cursed Daughters

By Oyinkan Braithwaite

Eniiyi is born on the day her family buries Monife, a cousin whose resemblance to the baby seems impossible to ignore. Relatives come to believe the child is Monife returned, carrying the same destiny. Eniiyi grows up beneath expectations shaped by another woman's life and tragic death.

The Falodun women also inherit the belief that lasting happiness with men is forbidden to their family. Three generations live together with that explanation for their heartbreak. When Eniiyi falls for a young man she rescues from drowning, the possibility of love brings every warning into sharper focus.

Searching Lagos for answers leads her toward spiritual practices and secrets her relatives have not resolved. Oyinkan Braithwaite explores the pull of superstition, rivalry, affection, and inherited trauma as Eniiyi tries to distinguish the life she wants from the one her family insists has already been written.