In this fascinating novel about a mixed-race woman searching for the African father she never knew, by a prize-winning writer who beautifully portrays the spirit of a people and a place, Girl, Woman, Other meets An American Marriage (Nicole Dennis-Benn).
Sankofa is a narrative for anybody who has ever gone looking for a clear identity or home and found something more complex in its place. It is a story for anyone who has ever gone looking for a clear identity or home and discovered something more complex in its place.
Anna is at a point in her life where she is beginning to question who she is. Her husband has left her, her daughter is grown, and her mother–the lone parent who raised her–has passed away.
Anna discovers hints about her African father while searching through her mother’s possessions one day. His student diaries detail his involvement in radical politics in London during the 1970s. Anna learns that he rose to become the president–some would say dictator–of a small West African country. He’s still alive, by the way.
When Anna chooses to find her father, she embarks on a trip that is unexpectedly poignant, hilarious, and interesting. Sankofa expresses the importance of reaching back to knowledge gained in the past and bringing it into the present to address universal questions of race and belonging, the overseas experience for the African diaspora, and the search for a family’s hidden roots, much like the metaphorical bird that gives the novel its name.
