The release date for the English version of 'Sankofa' by
Chibundu Onuzo is Oct 2021. If you enjoy this novel, it is available for buy as a paperback from Barnes & Noble or Indigo, as an ebook on the Amazon Kindle store, or as an audiobook on Audible.
A different edition of the ISBN (9781646220830) cover.
Brilliant in its analysis of liberty, bigotry, and private and societal legacy, Sankofa is a tale for everyone who has ever searched for a certain identity or location to call home only to discover something more nuanced there.
At this point in her life, Anna is starting to question her identity. Her mother, the lone parent who reared her, passed away, she and her husband are no longer together. Her daughter has grown up.
One day, while going through her mother's stuff, Anna discovers information about the African father she never met. His involvement in radical politics in London throughout the 1970s is documented in his student diaries. Anna learns that he finally rose to the position of president—some could even say dictator—of a little West African country. He's still alive, too.
A startlingly amusing, interesting, and poignant adventure begins when Anna makes the decision to find her father. In order to address universal questions of race and belonging, the African diaspora's overseas experience, and the hunt for a family's hidden roots, Sankofa, like the metaphorical bird that gives the novel its name, emphasizes the value of looking back into the past and bringing it into the present.