This Kind of Trouble, Tochi Eze (Review by Clare Kenny)

‘He’d survived cancer at forty-seven, a motorbike accident at fifty-nine, a heart attack at sixty-one. Now, at sixty-seven, it seemed like the only demand life threw at him was to survive the consequences of his past.’ Benjamin is a man looking back at mistakes in his past. Raised in Britain, he yearned to connect with his Nigerian heritage by moving to Lagos in the 1960s on the cusp of independence. When he meets Margaret, a confident modern woman, he falls in love. But it emerges that their forebears share a complex history back in the village of Umumilo more than half a century before, leading to questions whether they should be together at all. This Kind of Trouble is a gripping family saga spanning generations. It describes the regrets of a man who leaves and the impact this has on those who stay. Of wanting to understand a part of your heritage that has been denied to you and choosing to build a life in a foreign land. It also provides an insight into the irreversible impact of colonial life on traditional tribal values and how this impacts subsequent generations. Tochi Eze succeeds in incorporating these heavy themes with the lightest touch and beautiful prose. It’s about an angry teenage boy, a woman trying to support her mother in ill health and a man who tries to make amends by being present for his family after a long absence. It also contains empathetic descriptions of mental ill health and the strain this can take on family. This is a book that immerses you into a world that you may not be familiar with. While the story is propulsive, I kept pausing my reading to consider the themes that emerged. We have all been the stranger in an unfamiliar environment and felt bound to family members undergoing challenges. What I love about reading books set around the world is seeing the universality of human experience and recognising it in my own. A highly enjoyable read!