Lead Review
- Book: Accra Noir (Akashic Noir)
- Location: Accra
- Author: Nana-Ama Danquah (Editor)
“Accra is the perfect setting for noir fiction” says editor of these 13 short stories, Nana Ama Danquah. It is a city almost at the centre of the world, as she points out, being not far off the intersection of 0 degrees latitude and longitude, a meeting point of East and West. It is one of the most well-known cities in Africa, the capital of Ghana. In colonial times it was known as the Gold Coast and there are plenty of indicators of its past running through these stories
In The Labadi Sunshine Bar, Priscilla finds all kinds of work under the watchful eye of Madam Joanna and is mindful of her own mother’s experience -producing new siblings for her at the drop of the hat and tying her to the difficult relationship with her father: Why have love when you could have freedom? How will her life turn out? In Kweku’s House it is the story of Kweku on his death bed and how the family is acclimatising. Refuse collectors and dead bodies left to rot on rubbish heaps… Many of the stories depict an unfamiliar world but the human drives and emotions are very familiar.
The stories feel so evocative of place, dark, sinister and oh so rich in colour, heat and noise. The colonial past features, the church, crime, death, love and life in its infinite variety of forms. And a the heart is Accra. Another excellent addition to the #akashicnoir stable.
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