Canongate nets Unigwe's 'powerful' reimagining of Greek myth

Canongate has acquired The Middle Daughter, Chika Unigwe’s reimagining of the Greek myth of Persephone and Hades, centring a woman’s experience of living in a patriarchal society.

Ellah Wakatama, editor-at-large, acquired UK and Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada, from Kate Johnson at Wolf Literary. 

"The Middle Daughter is a story with a powerful message of cultivating resilience and finding agency in womanhood," the synopsis reads. "When Nani is only 17, she loses her beloved sister and father. Misunderstood by the rest of her family, she is beguiled by an itinerant preacher, a handsome self-proclaimed ‘man of God’ who seems to offer all the answers. 

"But instead of building a better future with him, Nani is forced too soon into a challenging womanhood with an oppressive husband. Will she find the courage to take charge of her own life and seek true happiness, and at what cost?"

Unigwe is professor of writing at Georgia College, Milledgeville, Georgia. She is the author of several works of fiction including On Black Sisters’ Street (Vintage), which won the NLNG Prize for Literature worth $100,000, and most recently the short story collection Better Never than Late (Cassava Shorts). 

"This contemporary reimagining of the myth of Hades and Persephone told in a polyphony of voices examines the struggles of being a woman in a patriarchal society, explores issues of feminism and gender, and the dynamics of family relationships," she said. "I am honoured to be publishing this book with Canongate, and especially thrilled to be working again with the brilliant Ellah Wakatama."

Wakatama added: "It’s been 15 years since I published Chika’s debut On Black Sisters’ Street. I am so happy to be reunited – and happier still that our publishing landscape has been enhanced by the work of writers just like her who have opened up the lives, struggles and triumphs of African women. Chika is a writer of the particular whose messages of resilience, love and agency will resonate with readers far beyond the confines of her setting."

Canongate will publish the novel in April 2023 simultaneously with Dzanc Books in the US.