"The Executioner's Stepdaughter" by Yaw Agawu-Kakraba is a captivating historical novel set between 1960s London and postcolonial Ghana. In this story, Ghanaian student Nii Narh Okine arrives in London on a Commonwealth Scholarship in hopes of a better life. Yet the last thing he expects to happen is to fall in love with an English woman who he's been strictly forbidden by his mother to be with. When he meets Charlotte, a beautiful and free-spirited but troubled young English woman, his determination soon unravels. Their blossoming romance exposes dark secrets, buried trauma, and deep-rooted cultural and societal expectations. Nii Narh and Charlotte must decide what's worth saving, what's worth risking, where their loyalty lies, and what outcomes they wish to see in their future.
This heartfelt and compelling story richly illustrates the emotional complexities of love, loss, family history, and cultural/societal expectations, challenges, and changes. Both Nii Narh and Charlotte showcase what it was like trying to fight off their personal feelings and desires in favor of pleasing their family heritage and society during the postcolonial 1960s."
The Executioner's Stepdaughter. A Novel
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by Yaw Agawu-Kakraba, 2023 winner of the African Literature Association Book of the Year Award-Creative Writing 2024 for an outstanding book of African literature by an African writer published in 2023 for The Restless Crucible. A Novel
In 1960s London, a Ghanaian student’s promise to his mother is tested by love. When Nii Narh Okine arrives from Ghana on a prestigious Commonwealth Scholarship, he carries with him more than hope for a better life—he carries a solemn promise to his mother to never date an English woman. But when he meets Charlotte, a captivating dancer with a fiercely independent spirit and a complicated past, Nii Narh’s resolve crumbles.
As their relationship deepens, buried secrets about family, history, and betrayal threaten to unravel everything. Caught between love and legacy, Nii Narh and Charlotte must confront painful truths and defy cultural expectations to forge their own path.
Set against the charged backdrop of 1960s London and postcolonial Ghana, this is a stirring story of love, betrayal, and the choices that define us.
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Reviewed in the United States on June 20, 2025