The Son of the House

DEBUT In a damp, musty room in southeast Nigeria, two women, shackled and handcuffed, are being held for ransom. Unemployment plagues the country’s young people, and extortion is a way of life. As Julie, a wealthy widow, and Nwabulu, her dressmaker, await word that their families have complied with the kidnappers’ demands, they agree to pass the time sharing their life stories. Each represents the changing roles of women in Nigeria’s patriarchal Igbo society, where a lower-class girl like Nwabulu, smart and ambitious, faces a life of servitude by the age of 10, while the more fortunate Julie, educated, independent, and successful, is pitied for her lack of a husband and sons. Though their origins are wildly divergent, Julie and Nwabulu discover a devastating bond that, once revealed, evokes both rage and joy for Nwabulu and a redemptive sense of peace for Julie.