July Book Club Discussion - Lucky Girl by Irene Muchemi Ndiritu

This July, we our Journey with Soila, our protagonist, from Nairobi to New York and witness firsthand how an otherwise ‘lucky’ or privileged girl, navigates the excesses and recesses of America, whilst struggling to break free from her mother’s overbearing hold back home.
Soila is a lucky girl by anyone’s estimation. Raised by her stern, conservative mother and a chorus of aunts, she has lived a protected life in Nairobi. Soila is headstrong and outspoken, and she chafes against her mother’s strict rules. After a harrowing assault by a trusted family friend, she flees to New York for college, vowing never to return home.
New York in the 1990s is not what Soila imagined it would be. Instead of finding a golden land of opportunity, Soila is shocked by the entitlement of her wealthy American classmates and the poverty she sees in the streets. She befriends a Black American girl at school and witnesses the insidious racism her friend endures, forcing Soila to begin to acknowledge the legacy of slavery and the blind spots afforded by her Kenyan upbringing. When she falls in love with a free-spirited artist, a man her mother would never approve of, she must decide whether to honor her Kenyan identity and what she owes to her family, or to follow her heart and forge a life of her own design.

Soma Nasi, won’t you?

NB: Please note there is limited capacity available for the in-person discussion. Book your tickets early.

Host or Publisher Soma Nami Books