The Attic Child - Lola Jaye - ★★★★.¼

AUTHOR: Lola Jaye

GENRE: Historical Fiction

PUBLICATION DATE: April 28, 2022

RATING: 4.25 stars.

In a Nutshell: A dual timeline historical fiction covering the shared trauma of two children in an attic, separated by almost a century. Compelling plot, excellent writing, powerful themes and research. Definitely recommended. (Just in case you thought this is a slave narrative, it is not so. Rather, not a typical one anyway.)

Plot Preview:

1907. Twelve-year-old Dikembe assumes that he is being sent by his mother along with the white man named Sir Richard Babbington for a month-long educational trip to England. Little does he know that he is to be renamed Celestine, and because of a change in circumstances, he will soon become an unpaid servant. Locked in the attic when he is not working, Celestine can only dream about his family while wondering how he can return to them.

1970s. Lowra, a young orphan whose familial wealth and privilege doesn’t save her from being banished to the same attic, discovers an old porcelain doll and a bone necklace under the floorboards, and an illegible sentence scribbled behind an old cupboard. These give her solace, letting her know that there was another child in the attic, probably many years before.

What does the future hold in store for these two attic children? Are their lives connected in any way beyond the attic?

The story comes to us in the first person perspectives of Dikembe (as Celestine) and Lowra.

Bookish Yays:

🤩 The stress on this quote by Chinua Achebe: “Until the lions have their own historians, the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter.” Heck, yeah!

🤩 This is not a typical slave narrative, as I had mistakenly assumed because of the cover. The difference lies not just in the country (usual slave narratives are based in the US) but also in the circumstances (Dikembe’s experiences are in a city, not a plantation, AND his initial days in England aren’t the kind we typically see in such fiction) and also in the later trajectory (Dikembe’s story goes much beyond his days as an unpaid labourer.) I always love historical fiction books that cover an angle not often taken and end up raising a lot of thoughts in my head.

🤩 Dikembe is one heck of a character. I don’t want to go into spoilers, but suffice it to say, I learnt a lot from his arc.

🤩 Lowra’s timeline is also strong, though not as impactful as Dikembe’s, for obvious reasons. Her sad situation in childhood, her ignorance of her privilege, her quest to learn more about the artefacts she discovered – all make her arc an interesting one. Plus, she is a realistic character – a bit awkward and a loner because of her childhood trauma. She isn’t easy to warm towards, but she performs her role well.

🤩 The story covers plenty of thought-provoking themes, including family secrets, intergenerational trauma, child abuse, alternative perspectives of captivity, feminism, racial discrimination, bigotry, and colonialism. The author handles most of them deftly. Just a couple of the themes feel a bit heavyhanded, but they are still relevant to the core storyline and hence not an issue.

🤩 The book includes several historical snippets of the Congo, which add depth to Dikembe’s arc.

🤩 Lowra’s timeline includes an interesting Black historian named Monty, whose backstory enhances the punch created by the core plot. Most of their arc doesn’t build towards a romance, which is always a plus in my book.

🤩 I was way more invested in Dikembe’s arc, but as Lowra’s timeline focussed mostly on finding out what happened to ‘Celestine’, the two timelines kept me equally invested.

Bookish Mixed Bags:

😐 Seeing a good part of this story from a child's perspective makes the experience more poignant. Dikembe’s blissful ignorance of what's to come and his innocence that was soon shattered act as a bittersweet filter of the harsh truth. Lowra’s younger years , in comparison, feel somewhat glossed over. Though we get to see her trauma too in bits and pieces, the why’s of her abuse don’t come out convincingly. Her backstory should have been better sketched, especially as it was the foundation to the whole plot. In fact, even in Dikembe’s arc, the negative female character felt too stereotypical, except in one scene where she seems to break character, because of which that scene didn’t really make sense to me.

😐 The final few chapters seem a bit dragged, and a tad overdramatic. These could have been edited a bit tighter. The rest of the book goes by steadily.

Bookish Nays:

😒 I wasn’t satisfied with the ‘connection” between the two characters – it was too farfetched and felt forced.

All in all, I did enjoy this story a lot. Despite some areas in which it could have worked better, I was still invested throughout the proceedings. It reminded me of why I love historical fiction so much, and that’s the best compliment I can pay to the book.

Definitely recommended to all historical fiction lovers. Do note that some of the content is extremely triggering.

My thanks to Pan Macmillan and NetGalley for the DRC of “The Attic Child”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.