A picture of wonderful

This book had a wonderful story. I thoroughly enjoyed reading about the culture and the goings-on of the African trinity of tribes and people. It was captivating in a way, and I really did enjoy the way it read the way someone would speak the story.

Before the story begins, the author specifically tells you that you shouldn't read it if you are looking to follow the life of one central protagonist, and he tells you that the story moves slowly. I was expecting a story to be as slow as something written by J.R.R. Tolkien, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that it moved more quickly than that for me.

He also warned that the book promised no ending, but I didn't realize how literally he meant it. That was my major peeve with the book. The book ended the exact same way it began ((however, he uses different perspectives for it and different descriptions)), but it felt so unfinished, as if there should be more to the story. It left me craving more, and I was angry that I didn't get more. It seems like there should be a sequel to this, but I highly doubt the author ever intends to continue with a sequel which is just as well.

As far as technicalities go, there were a lot of grammatical and spelling errors throughout the book that I felt were obvious enough to be caught by whomever edited the piece. Those errors occasionally made it difficult to understand what I was reading, but I was sometimes able to figure it out through the use of context clues.

I found myself also wishing that there had been more words in the glossary that could have helped me better understand some of the vocabulary that left me floundering a little. I think a small family tree in the back with the glossary could have been a nice touch as well.

All in all, each character had her or his own personalities that were easily distinguished. There was much character development throughout the three generations of people that were depicted, and that was very good. I also liked that there were strong female characters along with the strong male characters, but each gender also had some among their ranks that were weak leaders in their own right, just as any gender and grouping of people may have.

I found it sad that Onitsha's dream only lasted until his only living son, Wawa, was murdered. Osha, Wawa's only child, allowed the trinity of villages to prosper, but he ruled it as a king when Onitsha's dream had always been to have free peoples who ruled themselves. Having been a slave who had escaped to begin the trinity, he disliked the idea of one person ruling over all.

There were very happy points and very sad points. Over all, the theme of the book was sad, but the book itself was very well done from the storyteller.

Hiding an exceptional sotry

Bettie feels patronised



Okay here we go... There is a guide/author's note entitled How To Read This Book, which I chose to ignore in case of spoilers (not to mention feeling pretty well patronised. To my mind it was as if I had been given a paint by numbers plan of action to accompany a Picasso) and I dived straight into the beginning which is highly noticeable by it's absence, or rather, it's barest existence.

So back I flipped to this authors note: {Rean more ...Yes... Do read more...

New Book: Masters of the Confluence {Back Cover}

Just Published: My First Novel!

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A book with much to teach...

Carla's Review: ...a book with much to teach

No beginning, no main character and no end. A strange story? Probably.


But this is precisely how it goes, this Masters of the Confluence, where, in nineteenth-century Nigeria, Onitsha gives start to a long mission in search for the freedom and honor of his lineage.


It isn't quite an easy book to read. With a story that includes multiple generations, this is not a linear tale, but a kind of memory for multiple events. And that is why we can never follow a single character, because things change and before we notice, we are following the story of a new generation.


This is, therefore, a book of moments. Moments of struggle, pain, violence and sadness but also joy and dreams. Hard times, but of courage. War, slavery ... and love. And then we get to the last chapters, and when we have a more complete story, that of Alabo and Anashi, we finally create a connection with his strange form of love, even though we can't fully understand how their story ends.


I would not recommend this book to all kinds of readers. With a history so vast, it is a difficult book to follow. But it is still a book with much to teach about the culture and traditions of a people fighting for their place in the world and therefore I liked it and enjoyed reading it.

Author's Warning: Avoid this Book!

Sue Hall's Review of "Masters of the Confluence"

This is a fascinating book. 

The story develops over a couple of generations whilst exploring culture, history, colonialism, family and relationships.

The author provides a warning at the beginning of the book suggesting that this is a book to be avoided if you are looking for a story. But its an unnecessary warning.  The book holds your attention because it explores pain, death sadness and joy in a particular cultural context. 

It is written well, but I did feel sometimes an editor would have removed some minor niggles. 

I do hope there is a volume 2.

New Book: Masters of the Confluence

Why I wrote "Masters of the Confluence"

"Masters of the Confluence" has a lot of snippets of stories my grandmother told me. Over ten years since she passed on, I stumbled upon a link in her narratives to the African Explorer, Mungo Park, which also connected the Lander brothers.

Incidentally, the brothers were kidnapped for ransom in a village near to mine, a couple of miles down the River Niger. I knew then that I just had to write this story.

Recently, I had a "visiting friend", who went on to tell me of his ancestors' involvement in the slave trade. It still creeps him out whenever he visits a sea port. The guilt is still running deep.


Masters of the Confluence