The Private Joys of Nnenna Maloney

THE PRIVATE JOYS OF NNENNA MALONEY is a comic novel about Nnenna, a half-Nigerian teenager living in modern-day Manchester with her mother Joanie. As Nnenna approaches womanhood she starts trying to connect with her Igbo-Nigerian culture. Her once close and tender relationship with her mother becomes strained as she asks probing questions about her father who she's never met and whom her mother who refuses to discuss. Each chapter begins with a biblical quote which harks back to the beginning of Maurice and Joanie's relationship - meeting in a church group are in a cafe in Cambridge - but is really Nnenna's diary headings which she is trying to hide from her mother's prying eyes. Nnenna is asking big questions of how to 'be' when she doesn't know who she is as Joanie wonders, how to truly love when she has never been loved? Okechukwu Nzelu brings us a novel about two women, big questions and lots of laughter in a unique and distinctive new voice.

About the Author :
Okechukwu Nzelu is a Manchester-based writer. In 2015 he was the recipient of a Northern Writers' Award from New Writing North. His debut novel, The Private Joys of Nnenna Maloney (Dialogue Books), won a Betty Trask Award; it was also shortlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize and the Polari First Book Prize, and longlisted for the Portico Prize. In 2021, it was selected for the Kingston University Big Read. He is a regular contributor to Kinfolk magazine, and a Lecturer in Creative Writing at Lancaster University.

Review :
A magnificent novel, full of wit, warmth and tenderness; Nzelu shows us that fully becoming who we are is a lifelong journey and that identity, of the self, of family and of a community, is infinitely complex Okechukwu writes with confidence, wit and humour. Unforgettable characters and a voice that stays with you even after the final page. Edifying and hilarious, The Private of Joys of Nnenna Maloney is a beautiful debut that you won't want to put down Okechukwu Nzelu has effortlessly captured the tricky nuance of life, love, race, sexuality and familial relationships . . . I haven't been able to put it down Nzelu writes with a witty confidence rarely seen in debut fiction. Smart, serious and entertaining, I expect this book to have wide appeal and for this writer to go far [An] effervescent depiction of race and sexuality in 21st-century Britain. Nzelu is a delightfully generous writer and treats the conflicts of his characters with equal sympathy but he is best of all on the multiple subtle ways in which the most well-intentioned straight white people use sexuality and race to 'other' even their closest friends. He's also very funny . . . zesty social comedy that skewers religious, racial and sexual prejudice with a light touch Witty narrative . . . [a] well-written tale This debut is the big-hearted story of a half-Nigerian teenager growing up in Manchester, desperate to find out the truth about her Igbo heritage '[a] tender, funny debut . . . Nzelu writes with compelling honesty, but he's also gifted with a warm sense of humour A vivid picture of people seeking security and identity in the maze of modern-day England. This is fiction as sculpture: skilfully paring down a scene to reveal the shape of the pain hidden within. Jonathan's search for validation, and Nnenna's drive to create an identity for herself, are moving and relatable stories, intimately told A promising debut novel about race, class, family, belief and sexuality Figuring out who you truly are is the central theme of this open-hearted debut . . . a quietly complex plot comes together and a lyrical epilogue takes over One of my earliest pieces for the Church Times was about Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's debut novel Purple Hibiscus, and I remember feeling reluctant to use the word "masterpiece" of that book, which indeed it was. Okechukwu Nzelu is another new Nigerian writer to celebrate: The Private Joys of Nnenna Maloney has the same clear, well-written prose and natural dialogue, the same important human issues deftly touched on, the clashes between generations, and, crucially, how skin-colour can warp, but also illuminate, a human life I was beguiled by the sheer heart of Okechukwu Nzelu's novel The Private Joys of Nnenna Maloney . . . "Joy" is exactly the right word for this unforgettable debut, about a Nigerian-British girl coming of age in our mixed-up world