Book Review: The Hundred Wells of Salaga
- Amazing Grace L. Danso
- Sep 29
- 2 min read
Book Review: The Hundred Wells of Salaga
Author: Ayesha Harruna Attah 🇬🇭
Type of work (Genre): Novel
Number of pages: 231
Own or Borrowed: own, purchased from The Word Playce
Overall Impressions: I had mixed feelings about this one. On the positive side, it is a very important story about elements of Ghanaian history particularly how slavery was common before contact with Europeans, that often get ignored. Loved that she told it through the lives of two women from different social groups and on different sides of the practice whose destinies end up intertwined. I also appreciated the greater look into the slave trade before arriving at the coastal castles and ports and then continuing on the journey across the seas and the exploration of the factors that contributed to the practice. Where this book fell short for me is its length. For such a critical story, I believe it stood to benefit from more chapters that allowed her to better develop both the characters and the story itself. It inadvertently felt rushed and incomplete to me. I know there is a follow up book but my feelings still stand despite this reality. The love triangles could have been more compelling if given the extra pages. My critiques notwithstanding, Ayesha is a great writer and storyteller who pulls you in with her writing style.
Something that stood out: I loved the attention paid to cultural elements especially the foods that were consumed at the time. They were a nice touch.
Overall Rating: 🖋🖋🖋 (out of 5 fountain pens).
Recommend or nah: I definitely recommend it! It is a very important story. Follow my @agsbookadventures 🤓📚IG & Facebook accounts dedicated to books & reading☺️ Also find me on TikTok via the handle @agsbookadventures.
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