Rating: 4 stars
Published: November 30, 2023
Pages: 309
Genre: Contemporary Romance
‘Tearless’ is a coming-of-age story that follows Lami, a 24-year-old Nigerian girl who is on a path to self-discovery by digging into her past to make sense of who she really is and who she wants to become in the future. Lami is determined to reunite her family and find her younger sister who was separated from them at a very young age. This turns out to be a roller coaster ride for both her and her love interest who gets entangled in her search for self-discovery and freedom from her past. The story is written in first person POV and alternates between present day and Lami’s childhood. The major themes in this story include the effects of childhood trauma, grief, rejection, self-discovery, love and new beginnings.
This was both captivating and sad to read. The way the story alternates between her past and present day was well done which made it a page-turner. Lami’s story was wild but both believable and relatable in many ways to me. Some experiences she faced as a child were literally difficult to read but were very important parts of the story that needed to be told. I really enjoyed reading this book despite its heavy themes and I would like to believe that I have come out of this experience with a better understanding and empathy for people who have gone through all kinds of trauma especially in childhood. I mostly enjoyed reading how her relationship with Nico blossomed and finally ended on a positive note which was the highlight for me (sorry for this spoiler but had to mention it). This is one of those books that I think would be a great book club pick because there is so much to unpack, and I am curious to hear other people’s views on some of the other characters in the book.
I highly recommend this book to all contemporary fiction book lovers.
The Author:
Ayo Deforge is a Nigerian writer who resides in the South of France. An alumna of Chimamanda Adichie’s inaugural creative writing workshop (2007) and the Faber Academy’s writing course (2022). She has worked as a freelance poet for the Nigerian Daily Independent Newspaper and NGEX.com.
Her writing has appeared in Litro Magazine, Brittle Paper, Ayo Magazine, Kalahari Review, and Lucy Writers (an online writing forum established by lucy Cavendish College, University of Cambridge). Platform was born in Lagos in 1982. She moved to France in 2012 and now lives in the south of France. Tearless is her debut novel and is represented by Jessica Craig at Craig Literary. She served as a reader for the inaugural Oxbelly Writers Retreat and teaches Read Like A Writer classes. Tearless is her debut novel.
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