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a novel by
AYESHA HARRUNA ATTAH
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reviews:
"The naughtiness - subtly 'dirty' jokes and great story-telling makes Ayesha a perfect replacement for the old guard in modern Ghnaaian literary works."
Read Mantse Aryeequaye's full review (PDF file)--
"Overall, Harmattan Rain is an engaging novel from a promising new voice, one that will have important things to say in subsequent literary works."
Read full review at Pencil Tribe
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"Ayesha's attention to detail in the book is amazing! It's obvious she has a remarkable flair for writing, because in Harmattan Rain, she gives indepth descriptions about the environment, emotions, thoughts, etc of her characters, yet her writing style and sentence structure are far from being complex or cumbersom. It was a joy reading the entire book, and in one phrase, "I felt like a train chugging along from one line to the next."
Read full review on Jemila Wunpini Abdulai's blog, Circumspect--
"The power in Ayesha's debut novel is in its telling of a story that usually suffers in silence, hidden behind a veil of pretense and a desperate attempt to present oneself as totally together -- just fine. Using the raw realities of Lizzie, her daughter Akua Afriyie, and Akua's daughter, Sugri, Ayesha creates a saga for sisters, and a safe space that connects women of all ages and nationalities -- letting them know, once and for all, it's okay if your life didn't turn out to be the fairytale you hoped as a girl it would be because no one's life did. Not even the woman married to the "big man" with the gated house, German car and his own business."
Read Nana Brew Hammond's full review here.--
"Harmattan Rain is skillfully structured, making it very ‘reader-friendly’. In addition to the age-old style of giving each chapter a title, we are given dates to mark the passage of time, and snippets of news from the radio and newspapers to update us on events. The epilogue which is dominated by Papa Yaw mellowed by age and telling us what had happened “back in the early fifties,” is a particularly skillful device which is both poignant and beautiful."
Read Frances Ademola's full review here
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"Ayesha Harruna Attah’s Harmattan Rain was impressive to say the least. As she weaves Ghana’s political history into the story of three generations of strong African women, I couldn’t stop thinking to myself, “Where does a 25 year old garner the strength, courage and talent to produce such a work. Attah may very well be our next Ayi Kwei Armah. While her debut novel is much longer than any of Armah’s work, it reads very fast. I couldn’t put it down knocking it out in two days."
Read Ra Wilson's full review here.
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"I would argue that the main strength of Harmattan Rain is its in-depth exploration of Ghana’s political evolution since the pre-Independence 1950’s. In this way it serves as a useful introduction to the country’s recent political history."
Read Tola Ositelu's full review on African Writing Online<<Back to Harmattan Rain | Read an excerpt>>
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