This book was quite possibly the most emotional and heart wrenching I’ve ever read. Most people are aware of the Nigerian/Biafra civil war…. it was estimated around one million people may have died due to the conflict from disease, lack of medicine, murder, pillaging, famine and hunger, with thousands starving to death every day, as the war progressed.  The author Onyeka Nwelue has conveyed these horrific deaths in his book “The Women of Biafra” depicting the atrocities that occurred, pulling no punches as to the brutality of war and the intense suffering of the people of Biafra. 

 

The story opens with a horrific scene of the main character Ngozika, being savagely attacked by a Nigerian soldier, as her children listened on in another room. She explicitly relates the physical violence she’s enduring and her emotions as she feels them, making the reader realise this book is not going to be a walk in the park. 

 

As most of the men were being killed in droves, it was left to the women to keep their children safe and at times, rally fellow women around to fight the war themselves. Listening to their grief, when the women learned of their children’s deaths was heartbreaking and I could understand their thoughts on rather being dead themselves than living in their current nightmare, waiting for the soldiers to rape and murder them. 

 

Living constantly amongst dead, decaying bodies, fly ridden and often butchered, just lying in the streets and floating in rivers just added to the inhumane conditions people were surviving in and the lack of food, making them resort to rotten pears and lizards is incomprehensible. Makes you realise how we take our western lives and access to all foods, for granted. The author portrayed all this in detail, making it heart-wrenchingly realistic. The leading character Ngozika, was such a strong woman, with a true and honest heart, and a true inspiration. My heart went out to her suffering. 

 

Not an easy read by any means but I believe it needs to be known. It really does make you stop and think and together with a beautifully printed and designed book, I would recommend to all readers, from teenagers up with strong stomachs. 

 

#TheWomenOfBiafra - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️