Even When Your Voice Shakes by Ruby Yayra Goka

Even When Your Voice Shakes tells the story of Naa Amerley, the oldest daughter in a culture where the oldest sets an example for others.

Even When Your Voice Shakes tells the story of Naa Amerley, the oldest daughter in a culture where the oldest sets an example for others. When her father abandons the family after only having all girls, she is left to pick up the pieces and make ends meet.

While Amerley is trying to pay rent and school fees, Amerley-mami (her mother) wastes her days grieving and self-pity and refuses to keep the family from falling into debt. When Auntie Rosina arrives, she offers to take Amerley in as a housemaid in exchange for two years of mandatory service, and she will guarantee that her siblings can attend school. While working as a housemaid, Amerley has to choose between her dreams of being a seamstress and helping her family.

My only criticism is that the pacing was way off, and the resolution to the story was cut very short. Unlike other novels on this topic, the plot’s ‘slow burn’ element wasn’t there. And the emotional recovery wasn’t emphasized enough.

In a book of almost 220 pages, the central conflict of the assault occurred in the last thirty pages, and the recovery process was only discussed in five pages. The one romance in Even When Your Voice Shakes was also too hastily done and undervalued in terms of character development, I thought, as well.

Despite this, the book was good!