Pride and Joy

A Novel

By: Louisa Onomé

Narrated by: Yinka Ladeinde

Perfect for “fans of dark, laugh-out-loud family dramas” (Bust magazine), this is a heartwarming and hilarious novel about three generations of a Nigerian Canadian family grappling with their matriarch’s sudden passing while their auntie insists that her sister is coming back.

Joy Okafor is overwhelmed. Recently divorced, a life coach whose phone won’t stop ringing, and ever the dutiful Nigerian daughter, Joy has planned every aspect of her mother’s seventieth birthday weekend on her own.

As the Okafors slowly begin to arrive, Mama Mary goes to take a nap. But when the grandkids go to wake her, they find that she isn’t sleeping after all. Refusing to believe that her sister is gone-gone, Auntie Nancy declares that she had a premonition that Mama Mary will rise again like Jesus Christ on Easter Sunday.

Desperate to believe that they’re about to witness a miracle, the family overhauls their birthday plans to welcome the Nigerian Canadian community, effectively spreading the word that Mama Mary is coming back. But skeptical Joy is struggling with the loss of her mother and not allowing herself to mourn just yet while going through the motions of planning a funeral that her aunt refuses to allow.

Filled with humor and flawed, deeply relatable characters “so rich in heritage and complexity that I can’t believe these characters do not really exist” (Jesse Q. Sutanto, national bestselling author of Dial A for Aunties), Pride and Joy will draw you in as the Okafors prepare for a miracle while coming apart at the seams, praying that they haven’t actually lost Mama Mary for good, and grappling with what losing her truly means for each of them.

Critic reviews

"Yinka Ladeinde elevates a delightful story to new heights with impeccable comic timing and her ability to convey a wide range of characters...[She] transforms this unique multigenerational story into an unforgettable listening experience.'

A dysfunctional family.

I hate it when people can’t express what they are feeling and argue all the time.

OMG, where are the editors??

This could have been a perfectly charming short story or novella. The beauty of the Ibo language and the peeks into another culture were wonderful. But the pacing! The repetitive, contrived scenes where the main character went on and on and ON about her neuroses, and above all, the over use of phrases: how many times did someone "kiss her/his teeth"?! After gritting my teeth through most of it I finally gave up .