Adunni is a fourteen-year-old Nigerian girl who knows what she wants: an education. She holds close to her the advice that her mother shared before she died: an education is the only way to get a “louding voice”— and the ability to speak for herself and decide her own future. But instead, Adunni's father sells her to be the third wife of a local man who is eager for her to bear him a son and heir.

The author Abi Daré grew up in Lagos, Nigeria. She studied law at the University of Wolverhamton and received an MSc from Glasgow Caledonian University in International Project Management. She also has an MA in Creative Writing from Birkbeck, University of London. She began writing the novel after a conversation with her 8yr old daughter about how there were girls her age in Nigeria who had to do housework for a living.

In Episode 5, Adunni runs away to Lagos where she is told to work - very hard - for someone called Big Madam.

Written by Abi Daré
Read by Ronkẹ Adékọluẹ́jọ́
Abridged by Jill Waters and Isobel Creed
Produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4 Show less