Soul Sisters by Lesley Lokko

Synopsis

Since childhood, Jen and Kemi have lived like sisters in the McFadden family home in Edinburgh, brought together by a shared family history which stretches back generations. Kemi was educated in Britain alongside Jen and the girls could not be closer; nor could they be more different in the paths they take in life. But the ties that bind them are strong and complicated, and a dark family secret exists in their joint history.

Solam Rhoyi is from South Africa’s black political elite. Handsome, charismatic, charming, and a successful young banker, he meets both Kemi and Jen on a trip to London and sweeps them off their feet. Partly influenced by her interest in Solam, and partly on a journey of self-discovery, Kemi, now 31, decides to return to the country of her birth for the first time. Jen, seeking an escape from her father’s overbearing presence, decides to go with her.

In Johannesburg, it becomes clear that Solam is looking for the perfect wife to facilitate his soaring political ambitions. But who will he choose? All the while, the real story behind the two families’ connection threatens to reveal itself – with devastating consequences . . .

Review
It is a long time since I have read a Lesley Lokko book, and I have several on my ever growing book shelves, so I was really excited to be invited to take part in the blog tour for her new book Soul Sisters This is a sweeping epic novel that covers ninety years and two continents. Jen is an only child but at nine years old her father, Robert McFadden, brings Kemi to live with them. Kemi is aslo nine, but comes from South Africa, sent by her parents who are arrested as part of apartheid. The girls become as close as sisters, and become Soul Sisters, always there for each other, and when Kemi returns to South Africa for the first time in twenty years, Jen goes with her. But whilst there, their close bond begins to fracture with an act of betrayal. Set against the political tensions in South Africa this is a book about secrets, family identity and ambition.

Soul Sisters is one of those book you can get lost in, with its sweeping time line, wonderful settings and amazing characters. When reading books I have a a thing about working out the ages of characters when books cover a long time period, and I get really annoyed if the ages and time span don’t match up ( I know, a bit obsessive of me). At the beginning of this book Lesley Lokko brilliantly includes the year, location and the ages of the main characters so you can keep track, a brilliant idea. The first few chapters of the book set the background for the main narrative of the book, and gives an insight as to why some of the characters are the way they are. The central characters are Jen and Kemi, whose lives we follow from their first meeting at the age of nine, until the end of the book when they are forty one. Jen has been brought up in Edinburgh, with a strict father, a mother who has health problems, who make her feel like a disappointment. She has had all the opportunities money can buy coming from a wealthy family but seems to drift through life. Kemi has had a more difficult start in life, her parents are both political prisoners in South Africa so she is sent to live with Jen, whose father Robert McFadden was a friend of her grandfather, to get an education and all that can offer. Through their story we see that it is not blood that necessarily makes a family, but the bonds made, the unconditional love and the loyalty to each other. Their closeness is made stronger by the fact that they both feel distant fom their family; Kemi doesn’t really remember her father and doesn’t see her mother for over ten years, and Jen has very little contact with her parents on a daily basis. The catalyst that sees the bonds frayed is Solam, an ambitious man who wants to make a name for himself in South African politics. Like Kemi his parents were political prisoners and he was educated in England before returning to South. Africa. Solam’s ambition fuels him and he will do anything to move up the ladder, not always ethically, and in the process will come between Jen and Kemi; not the most likeable character.

Lesley Lokko opens up the world of South Africa, it’s difficult history, the class divide, the poliical divide and lack of meical care in some areas. I knew a bit about apartheid but this book really opened my eyes and taught me more about this period in South Afican history. Families torn apart by the politics, children sent across the other side of the world to go to school, living with family of friends they have never met, with no idea when they will see their parents again. The theme of racial and cultural identity is also prominent in the narrative. Kemi doesn’t feel South Africa after spending the majority of her life in England or Scotland, she feels disparate from her family and country, she is not sure how she fits in, unlike Solam who has also spent most of his life in England but definitely feels his roots in South Africa, a country he wants to help change. At the start of the book there is also an insight into how British missionaries working in Africa could abuse their power without thinking of the consequences.

As well as the contrast between Jen and Kemi there are the contrasting settings in the book. Kemi’s first impressions of Scotland and England are of everything being grey; the buildings, the. weather and the people. South Afica, however, is full of colour with a feeling of the exotic, but there are tensions there with the need for gated communities and body guards if you are important. Lesley Lokko captured the vastness of the country, the gap between poverty and wealth, the racial and cultural divide and the bright and exotic colours.

Soul Sisters is a fascinating read, spanning nearly a century and taking in the the changes that happened over that period. With well crafted characters whose lives I became invested in and a sweeping plot line of secrets, love, family, politics and betrayal this is a book that I was completely immersed in. At a time when race and cultural identity are at the forefront of our lives, Lesley Lokko writes with understanding and though her characters addesses many important issues. Utterly compelling and beautifully written I can’t recommend Soul Sisters highly enough.

I would like to thank Pan Macmillan and Anne Cater of Random Things Tours for my invite to be part of the blog tour in return for my honest review.