“A thought-provoking novel on familial expectations of love and loyalty,” a review of Faith, a novel by Itoro Bassey
Faith is a tale of different women separated by generation and geography but connected by trauma and sacrifice. It begins with Arit, a young American girl born in the US to Nigerian parents, who finds solace, from her unsatisfactory existence, in the comfort of an ancestral spirit.
We learn about Arit’s struggle to find her place and to assert herself in the only world she knows, but which is still oddly unfamiliar to her. Her fraught relationship with an abusive father and a seemingly indifferent mother are hallmarks of her childhood. This follows to adulthood when she, going against the grain, moves back to the fatherland in her quest for self-determination and ultimate fulfilment.
But before Arit was her mother, and before her mother was her mother’s mother—their individual stories and experiences giving colour and context to each woman’s journey.
Faith is a thought-provoking novel on familial expectations of love and loyalty. It is about a journey of self-discovery, of seeking one’s identity free of the influence of history and heritage. For each character, there seems a conflict between duty to the familiar and choosing oneself. Bassey does a fine job of laying bare not-so-often explored aspects of the lives of first-generation immigrants in the west and the pain that often follows young families, in search of a better future, across borders. Faith explores how the burden of broken dreams and unfulfilled destinies often tries to define those who come after.
This book blends the fabrics of living the American dream, African (Ibibio) spirituality, and modern Nigerian reality to create a novel that captivates and leaves a lasting impression long after the final page. The themes here are topical, relatable, and poetically executed to give the reader a rich reading experience.
You can read an excerpt of Faith here.
Faith is available on Amazon and Malarkey Books.
The author, Itoro Bassey, is a Nigerian-American writer and cultural worker based in Nigeria. She has received residencies and fellowships from the Vermont Studio Center, the San Francisco Writers Grotto, the Edward Albee Foundation and the Aroji Drama Academy (Kenya). She has publications and honors in Prairie Schooner, Glimmer Train, the Book Smugglers and the Speculative Literary Foundation.
