Shelf Life: Oyinkan Braithwaite

Welcome to Shelf Life, ELLE.com’s books column, in which authors share their most memorable reads. Whether you’re on the hunt for a book to console you, move you profoundly, or make you laugh, consider a recommendation from the writers in our series, who, like you (since you’re here), love books. Perhaps one of their favorite titles will become one of yours, too.

Seven years after the publication of her internationally lauded first novel, My Sister, the Serial Killer, Oyinkan Braithwaite has returned with a second novel: Cursed Daughters, a tale of generational trauma, romance, and familial curses set in Lagos, Nigeria. Were she to blurb the new book, Braithwaite jokes that it would read: “Braithwaite has done it again—the spunk, the intensity, the chaotic women. Her pen is precise and her tale otherworldly. If you have a mother, sister, daughter, neighbor, or dog—you will want to buy this book!”

The Lagos-born author was raised between Nigeria and the U.K.; got a creative writing and law degree from London’s Kingston University; has worked as an assistant editor and a graphic designer; began her writing life with poetry and was a spoken-word artist; is also a digital illustration artist married to an animator; and has been nominated for the Booker Prize, Women’s Prize for Fiction, Dublin Literary Award, and the Commonwealth Short Story Prize.

Likes: book festivals; anime; family stories, Little Simz; the restaurant Lagos TSQ in New York City.

Dislikes: insincerity; posting photos of herself on Instagram.

Good at: abandoning projects; writing while lying down; talking with her hands.

Getting better at: public speaking.

She cares about books because, she says, “if we think about it, our lives are so very limited. Social media has opened it up somewhat, but, still, books allow us to immerse ourselves in cultures, in beliefs, in ways of thinking, of imagining, that we may never have had access to in our lifetimes.”

Find your new favorite reads from the author’s recommendations below.

The book that…

…I wish I could read again for the first time:

Excalibur by Bernard Cornwell. I remember exactly where I was when I first began reading it: in the library at my secondary school in Nigeria. It transported me to another place, another time. The narrator’s voice was witty and sharp, and the characters were well-crafted. All these years later, I can still recall how completely enraptured I was.

…made me weep uncontrollably:

A Voice in the Wind by Francine Rivers. I read this book as a teenager, and I remember sitting on the floor and weeping. It was very dramatic, but that’s how deeply invested I was in the characters.

…I’ve re-read the most:

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë. Jane Eyre is my favorite novel, and I used to be able to recite entire passages from it—which should tell you just how many times I’ve read it. Her voice has endured the test of time and my porous memory.

…I read in one sitting; it was that good:

Circe by Madeline Miller. Circe’s voice captured me from the first page and compelled me to keep reading. I enjoy reading about women in limiting environments clawing their way to power, so, before I had even turned the first page, it was obvious it was a match made in heaven.

…I recommend to aspiring authors:

Jazz by Toni Morrison. I love the way Morrison opens and closes the chapters in this novel. Her craft is worthy of close study. I often encourage writers to challenge themselves and play with form, and when it comes to technique, Jazz is a brilliant place to start.

…I read to my kid:

Oi Frog! by Kes Gray. It is entirely possible that I love this book more than my daughter does. It is funny, playful, and it rhymes! What more could a girl want?

…features a character I’d like to be friends with:

Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery. I always believed Anne (with an e) and I would have gotten along like a house on fire. She was spunky, smart, loyal—and she loved books.

…I wish I’d written:

Ship of Magic by Robin Hobb. I appreciate good world-building, and I become genuinely envious when I encounter characters who feel layered and singular—and then, of course, there’s the matter of stellar plotting. Robin Hobb is a wizard at all three.

…got me out of a reading slump:

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. True epic escapist fantasy should transport you to another world and refuse to let you go until the story is done. The Name of the Wind is one such book.

…gave me faith in the power of books:

A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett. I think this book taught me more about the power of story—its ability to inspire people to look beyond their present circumstances and capabilities, to step outside their surroundings and dream freely, without constraint.

---