A Reading Desk reader picked up A Love At Forty by Emem Bassey, a romance that starts where most romances would have already ended.
A Love At Forty
by Emem Bassey
For Usoro, turning forty came with tribulations. She was infertile, fat, got divorced, was…
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unemployed, broke, had rough skin, didn't own decent clothes, struggled with low self-esteem, shouldered eight years’ worth of emotional abuse from her ten year marriage, experienced a friend turned enemy and dwelled in thoughts of a bleak future. When it seemed like the world was caving in, Usoro's unlikely saviour was her ex-husband's driver. She was uncomfortable with the younger man's passion for her, so she held her heart aloft until calamity came to her door. Jacob was smitten with his employer's wife on sight. He hated how his boss treated her and was glad when they divorced. Except she disappeared. Coupled with the case at hand, Jacob frantically searched for Usoro, worrying that he might not see her again. Therefore, when he found her, he pulled out all the stops to remain by her side despite her wariness. However, there's only so much a man can do for a woman unable to recognise love. Meanwhile, the case at hand made a sharp turn into the sinister and Jacob struggled to love, serve and protect.
Show lessUsoro is a plus-size woman in a childless marriage that has been abusive for years. She leaves it at almost forty. That is the whole opening premise, and the book does not treat it as a small thing.
She moves in with a friend, and the friendship turns into the sharpest betrayal in the book. Our reader flags that as the low point of Usoro's story, and the point from which she starts putting herself back together.
Jacob was her ex-husband's driver. He was in love with her for a long time, he knew exactly what was happening in that house, and there was nothing he could do about it from where he stood. When she finally leaves, he goes looking for her, and the two of them find their way to each other.
The book was beautifully written. The domestic violence was written carefully, the low self-esteem theme was written carefully and with so much depth, not exploited.
That is the line our reader kept coming back to. A book like this can very easily turn a woman's worst years into content. This one does not. The abuse and the self-esteem that comes out of it are handled with care rather than used for shock.
What stood out most was not the romance. It was Usoro deciding to fight for herself, stand up for herself, and find herself, before anyone else got to do it for her.
Short verdict: A carefully written romance about leaving, being betrayed by the people you land on, and building a self worth loving. Four out of five, and one our reader would recommend to friends.
This review came through Sọna's Reading Desk programme, where readers can get a book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you, Blessing (@tomificitionalmind on Instagram), for this one.
