Black Sunday

BLACK SUNDAY

by Tola Rotimi Abraham

 

Nomination: Aspen Words Longlist 2021, Kirkus Finalist 2020

 

Date Read: December 14, 2021

 

When a family falls apart due to fraud, the four siblings left behind rely on each other and their creativity to survive. The family is well-off, particularly by Nigerian standards, however, the father is swindled out of their entire wealth by a scam perpetrated by a pastor.

 

After this devastating change in their circumstances, the mother simply vanishes, leaving her four children behind. Not long after, the father also leaves, causing all 4 children to fend for themselves. They are somewhat fortunate that their grandmother takes them in but she is elderly and distrustful of their youth. She shamelessly parades the kids before the local merchants, telling them to never sell anything to these kids because if they had any money it was stolen from her.

 

These industrious children – twin girls Ariyike and Bibike and their younger brothers, Peter and Andrew – learn how to take care of one another all while growing up. Their paths lead them in very different directions. The girls sell water on the street and scrub toilets in order to feed their brothers and pay their school fees. Ariyike eventually lands a Christian radio show, launching her career in the church and eventual marriage to the same preacher that swindled her father.

 

The mother eventually returns to Lagos, well after the children could really use her help. She tells of going to America and being incarcerated for 6 months because of her expired visa. She then married an American and had another daughter, Zion. All of the children are perplexed by her and, understandably, not very welcoming.

 

The father also returns shortly after their mother, strange in the timing. He has been in Lagos this entire time and started another family. It seems he shows up for no other reason than to assess his mother’s house. He then returns when no one is there and shakes his mother to death and steals her property documents. Father of the year. No doubt.

 

But all the children fare well for themselves. We see them all finding their way and surviving the unimaginable. Abraham serves up some beautiful prose and an impactful story that reveals the manipulation of religion and men in Nigerian culture.