As a seasoned genre reader (fantasy, horror, science fiction), I’m always eager to take a look at a writer exploring something I’ve not encountered in the past. I’ve read some speculative fiction with Nigerian roots (Nnedi Orkorafor), but I’ve not read anything with a darker slant with that kind of cultural influence and backbone. Enter Where the Dead Brides Gather by Nuzo Onoh, a Nigerian born writer.
A powerful Nigeria-set horror tale of possession, malevolent ghosts, family tensions, secrets and murder from the recipient of the Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement and ‘Queen of African Horror’. For readers of Octavia Butler, Ben Okri and Koji Suzuki.
Bata, a young girl tormented by nightmares, wakes up one night to find herself standing sentinel before her cousin’s door. Her cousin is to get married the next morning, but only if she can escape the murderous attack of a ghost-bride, who used to be engaged to her groom.
A supernatural possession helps Bata battle and vanquish the vengeful ghost bride, and following a botched exorcism, she is transported to Ibaja-La, the realm of dead brides. There, she receives secret powers to fight malevolent ghost-brides before being sent back to the human realm, where she must learn to harness her new abilities as she strives to protect those whom she loves.
By turns touching and terrifying, this is vivid supernatural horror story of family drama, long-held secrets, possession, death – and what lies beyond.
At a young age, Akuabata (Bata to many), is thrust into a position of power. For much of her short life, she’s been experiencing terrible nightmares thanks to a near-death experience. She can also hear voices and sense things beyond the natural world, like the ghosts of women who never had the chance to marry. Specifically, when Bata’s cousin is about to marry, she is visited by the ghost of her fiancée’s previous fiancée. This marks her as a guardian, a Sentinel, for the living against these vengeful spirits. This is a lot for an eleven-year-old to handle.
The local medicine man attempts to exorcise this spirit from Bata, but instead, Bata finds herself transported to an otherworldly realm, something like a purgatory, with a council of spirits who impart this immense responsibility upon the young girl. Bata must navigate this world, balance this spiritual responsibility, and try to keep her family safe.
This novel is very much folk horror, just not “folk” that is likely to be familiar to many readers. This story takes the essence of a cultural myth and explores the dark consequences when something unimaginably terrifying is thrust into the being of a young girl. Bata holds her own though, she navigates the spiritual other-world of Ibaja-La, quite cleverly. Perhaps the reasons she can navigate the challenging mental terrain of that world is because of the scrutiny of her own family, particularly because her father who goes from aloof and dismissive of her to concerned and protective.
Told in the first person through Bata’s voice, the story felt intimate and allowed Onoh to generate quite a bit of empathy for Bata throughout the narrative. While the novel is most definitely horror, I also felt it had the feel of a fable and even a super-hero origin story. Bata gains these strange powers, reluctantly accepts them, trains to use these powers, and has battles against her enemies. The structure, cultural elements, and general supernatural elements made for a rather unique reading experience.
Onoh’s narrative power transported me to Bata’s home in 1977 and to the otherworld of Ibaja-La. She has a great sense of place in Where the Dead Brides Gather, which plays very nicely together with the wonderful character of Bata. This book was very much an experience and packs quite a lot in its short page count (under 300 pages)
Onoh has been called the “Queen of African Horror” a reputation that has helped her to be a recipient of the prestigious Bram Stoker Award for Life Achievement.
© 2024 Rob H. Bedford
Titan Books | October 2024
Trade Paperback | 288 Pages
https://nuzo.substack.com/
Excerpt: https://www.jellybooks.com/cloud_reader/excerpts/where-the-dead-brides-gather_9781835410622-ex/QVkA5
Review copy courtesy of the publisher
