Yeseni and the Daughter of Peace
by Solange Burrell
Reviewed by Galen Strickland
Posted January 3, 2025
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I received a free digital review copy of Solange Burrell's debut novel from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review. It will be published in paperback February 4. It was not until I downloaded it that I discovered it was previously released as an e-book in November 2023. I do not know if the digital copy I just read, or the paperback, contain any revisions to the original text.
The story begins in 1748 in Idanbule, a fictional area of West Africa. I was incorrect in thinking Yeseni is the book's main character, but it is something else. Written in first person by a seventeen-year-old girl, who is known by various names by different people; Ruru, Titi, Aje, but the name used most is a nickname given by her father: Elewa, which means pretty. Elewa Olanrewaju is a member of the Oleba tribe, which had been at war off and on for several years with the Okena. Her father is a close adviser to their chief, who had been negotiating with the Okena chief for peace. It was decided the two tribes needed to be joined in a marriage, the oldest daughter of the Oleba chief to the first-born son of Okena's chief. The problem with that was Oleba's chief had no children, so he offered to step aside and raise Elewa's father to be the new chief. Elewa is betrothed to Ojuro.
Elewa had never thought too much about her future, of being a wife and mother. Earlier in her life she had thrown away an amulet which was supposed to protect her and to insure her fertility. She started to change her mind as she learned more about Ojuro, known as Jo to his family and close friends. She was willing to be his wife if it meant peace in the country. Then she learns about Yeseni, after her first encounter with Ojuro's great aunt, Mama Tiiandas. Yeseni is the "gift of sight." Tiiandas shows her a vision of a former king, who was negotiating with white men from the British Isles. King Yemi made the mistake of revealing his fortune, gold, jewels, and the rich farmland and mineral deposits of Idanbule. In subsequent visions Elewa sees the British plotting betrayal, of taking Yemi's fortune, then providing guns in exchange for slaves. Elewa then understood her father's insistence that she and her siblings should not go to the coast, where the ships docked, and the British had built forts to house slaves until they could be shipped to the Americas, or to Britain.
Yeseni is just one speculative element in the story. Elewa later meets the sister of Tiiandas, Ojuro's grandmother Mama Iyeniye, who tells her she is aware of her Yeseni abilities. One indication of that is Tiiandas had been dead for about ten years. If Elewa could see the spirit of a long dead woman, and see visions of the past, is it possible she could see visions of possible futures? Mama Iyeniye claims that she and her sister were from the future, and were unable to return to that time, or at least didn't want to jeopardize their bond, just in case one could go back but not both together. Iyeniye also tells Elewa that she has a contact in the future, a multiple generations descendant who lives in modern day London. She convinces Elewa to go to the future and enlist the aid of Scyra, and maybe both could project themselves back to the past to change the fate of King Yemi, and the fate of all Idanbule.
I'm not sure where Burrell was born, but she earned journalism degrees in the UK, and currently resides in Canada. It is her UK connection which brought up some things I was not familiar with. One is a term used for the slave trade, Maangamizi, a Swahili term which speaks to the intentionality of the African holocaust of chattel, colonial and neo-colonial enslavement. Scyra at first is hesitant to help Elewa since she is unsure what that would mean for her, her family, her fiancé and their future. Elewa wants to save the lives of 12 million people, but Scyra counters with the notion that could wipe out the efforts of people like Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman (none of whom Elewa knows), along with a man I had not heard of until now; Olaudah Equiano. Elewa imagines what those people could have accomplished on their own, without the shadow of slavery overhanging their very existence. Elewa is able to share her visions with Scyra, which convinces Scyra that they must try to change the past.
Edelweiss listed this as a YA title, and that does fit, but it is also a very mature look at a horrible historical period. The prose is a little stilted at times, but that can be attributed to Elewa's knowledge and maturity at the time. Her literary skills might be improved if the story went on longer, or if there is ever a sequel. I would welcome that, since Elewa and Scyra were at least partly successful. When Elewa returns to her village, her father is not the chief, just a humble farmer living in a two room shack. Her mother and siblings are fine, and Ojuro is [REDATCTED). But what about the new future? Slavery has been part of human life for many centuries, in almost every country. Will there not be another effort by other groups to reestablish it in Africa (known to Elewa as Alkebulan, the "Mother of Mankind"), or elsewhere. If that does happen, what will Elewa and Yeseni do then? I recommend this book.
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