We dont expect our role models to have flaws.
For most children, parents are their first examples of what to aspire to, and we often assume they are perfect. When they fall short of that expectation, it’s not just disappointing—it can be deeply unsettling, leaving us struggling to accept reality. And when a major secret, resurrected after a long interment, rises to the surface and tumbles out of the earth, hearts are shattered, but ways must be found to mend them.
Welcome to the world of Hafsat in Fatima Bala’s sophomore novel, Hafsat Bebi. Like her debut novel, Broken, it is set largely in Northern Nigeria and Abuja and peopled with Muslim characters who struggle to live in accordance with the dictates of their religion.
The novel features many unforgettable characters, but four stand out: Ibrahim, a medical doctor and businessman; Zuwaira, a former auditor with the Central Bank of Nigeria; Sadiq, a businessman; and Hafsat, an entrepreneur. The story unfolds through the points of view of each of them.
Sadiq is the first the author introduces us to. At the time we meet him, he is a medical student stranded at home because of a strike by university lecturers. It doesn’t take long before we are also introduced to Zuwaira. They both live in the same compound but in different flats.
They become friends and begin to spend time together despite their peculiar situations. Ibrahim begins to day-dream about a possible future with Zuwaira, but before his dream lingers too much, he is brought back to reality when Zuwaira becomes the wife of a rich man who needs replacement for his third wife who just passed from complications during child-birth.
Before we become too invested in Ibrahim and Zuwaira, Bala throws us into the world of Hafsat and Bashir, who is soon displaced by Sadiq. Though what is breeding between them is initially undefined, we aren’t in doubt that they are fond of each other and something more is possible.
The way Bala presents Hafsat to us leaves the impression that there is a link between her and Ibrahim and Zuwaira whose story begins over two decades before Hafsat’s. This serves as a pilot for the plot and it helps fly us around Abuja, Jos, Kaduna, London and Vancouver.
The more we flip the pages the more invested we become. Sixty pages in, we begin to appreciate the dilemma the author has put us in and we soldier on searching for answers that she makes sure eludes us until the last bit of this genre-bending work of art that is blend of a romance novel and literary fiction.
In this work, Bala educates us about the culture in Northern Nigeria; she immerses us in aspects of Islam and clears our confusion about how both culture and Islam handle issues about inheritance, divorce and more.
She also strikes at the heart of identity and how knowing who we truly are can either make or mar us depending on how we handle it.
Bala explores the essence of unconditional love, including the risks it willingly embraces to stay alive and the likely consequences of its boldness.
There are also commentaries here and there on political and social matters, especially domestic violence and abuse and how people’s public personas aren’t always a true reflection of who they are in private. We see the role of bloggers in our society, especially how they are used to bring down people with unsubstantiated information.
The novel also brings to the fore how children try to be different from their parents, but most times end up finding themselves in the tight corners their parents were in.
Music and musicians play a pivotal role in this breathtaking, powerful and beautiful work. From Asake to Olamide to Fela Kuti, Burna Boy, Davido, Wizkid, Fireboy, Adekunle Gold and Mr. Eazi, we encounter them as we follow Sadia and Hafsat around town. We also dance to Ayra Starr’s Bloody Samaritan, Gyakie’s Forever, and Wande Coal’s Again.
The book shows us where and how the rich live in Abuja, we see its magnificent mansions, the mirrored hallways, and its pure opulence and grandeur, which are deliberately hidden behind high electric fences. We also see old money in its quiet and unimposing nature.
Hafsat Bebi is an absolute delight to read.
***Olukorede S Yishau is the author of ‘In The Name of Our Father’, ‘Vaults of Secrets’, United Countries of America and Other Travel Tales’ and ‘After The End’. He is concluding work on his third novel. He lives in Houston-Texas.
