Ekua: A Year in the Life of a Girl is a coming-of-age narrative of an eight-year-old Ghanaian girl who lives with an abusive guardian, Mrs. Addo, while her parents are in the United States. Because of the physical, mental, and emotional abuse Mrs. Addo dishes out to the girl daily, Ekua’s life with her is unhappy and fearful. Having lived with this woman for four years, Ekua, at the beginning of the novel, is sent to boarding school. Set in 1978, a politically unstable time in her country, the novel chronicles the events of her year. Ekua’s year and character are shaped by her new boarding school experiences, new relationships—particularly that with her best friend Constance, her rivalry with the beautiful and popular Ruby Mensah, and a relationship with an aunt she never knew she had. Desiring to escape her sense of insecurity and feelings of insignificance, Ekua is focused on pursuing academic excellence and recognition. In the midst of all of this, she battles physical and psychological abuse and more. All the while, Ekua’s sense of loneliness and feelings of displacement cause her to yearn to join her family in America. The audience is exposed to the eventful year of this sympathetic but very real character and is encouraged to see her triumph above her circumstances. The novel also grapples with themes of friendship, identity, tribalism, and death.

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