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The Children of House No. D13 South Suntresu Kumasi: An Ahwoi & Adu-Gyamfi Siblings’ Collective Biography
*Available from 15 June 2022
To describe The Children of House No. D13, South Suntresu, Kumasi, as an intriguing project is an understatement. A collective biography of eight siblings was always going to be a daunting challenge, even if each person told their own story and got it together in one volume. To do it in a coordinated combination of first and third person “voices” would appear to be a bit implausible. To actually achieve the purpose and turn it from a project into an enthralling reading experience deserves all the plaudits this book is likely to gather.
This book is a collection of life stories of the eight children of Madam Maye Charlotte Hudson, also known as Esi Tutuwa but known to some people as Esi Nkwagye and to the people of South Suntresu, Kumasi as Mrs. Ahwoi. The ‘Ahwois” principally is the collective name of three brothers – Ato, Kwesi and Kwamena – who have played prominent roles in Ghana’s recent history, but the siblings also include five girls, Ama, Adoma, Efua, Naana and Sister Aggie, who also played their part in this thrilling story in their own unique ways.
For such a collective recall of personal histories to work, a principal requirement is a willingness of all the parties involved to treat the project seriously; of equal importance is the need to treat everyone’s personal history as important, which is what this book has succeeded in doing. It would be right to describe it as an exercise in literary democracy!
It is not every book project that produces a good book, but this book has done so because at the heart of the project is a good story. And at the heart of that good story is human progress against the odds capsuled in the life of these eight individuals.
These are the dramatis personae in order of appearance – from the womb – Ato Ahwoi, Kwesi Ahwoi, Mrs. Ama Twum, Kwamena Ahwoi, Mrs. Ama Adoma Bartels-Kodwo, Mrs. Efua Bram-Larbi, Theodora Naana Adu Gyamfi and Mrs. Agnes Appiagyei-Dankah. Theodora Naana Adu-Gyamfi passed away at the age of 28 and so her role ends early except in passing references. However, it is worth recalling that before she died, and in an act that exemplifies the major theme of this book, Naana secretely transferred all the money in her own bank account into that of her six year old niece, Abena Tutuwa Ahwoi, the daughter of her brother, Kwamena.
The structure of the narrative, which makes it possible to flow, is simply to follow the fortunes of these siblings sequentially in turn through the main phases of their development. The person whose presence permeates the story is the matriarch – Mrs. Ahwoi, nee Maye Charlotte Hudson.
The book achieves the purpose of showing the “remarkable togetherness and the mutual support system that enabled the children of House No. D13, South Suntresu, Kumasi, to overcome the many hurdles along their individual paths in life as being due to their mother, Madam Maye Charlotte Hudson (Mrs. Ahwoi). Indeed, the matriarch herself is effectively the ninth subject of the biography of the eight children” as Honourable Kwame Preprah states in the Foreword.
Nana Kwasi Gyan Apenteng
Consultant in Communication, Media and Culture
Former Chairman, National Media Commission (NMC)
Former President, Ghana Association of Writers (GAW)
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A Toast to Fatherhood
This book – A Toast To Fatherhood – primarily addresses the subject of fatherhood from the perspective of sons and daughters. The book builds on the common knowledge that a son or daughter is anyone born by a woman. Here, a father is defined to mean more than just biological father.
Through the chapters of A Toast to Fatherhood, the author seamlessly shares real life stories in addressing some thought-provoking issues related to the child-father relationship. These include:
- What is fatherhood: Is it a divinely initiated human institution or a mere collection of individuals called fathers?
- Why do son and daughters wait for their fathers to die before they find beautiful words in tributes to read over the dead bodies?
- And if so, then why shouldn’t you and I propose a toast to fatherhood and to fathers while they are alive?
₵40.00A Toast to Fatherhood
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The Einstellung Effect
We become unable to consider other solutions when we think we already have one that works, even though it may not be accurate or optimal. It leaves us cognitively incapable of differentiating previous experiences with the current problem. So we may solve a problem but we don’t actually INNOVATE.
Einstelung is a German word that translates to setting, mindset, or attitude. The brain attempts to work efficiently by referring to past solutions without giving the current problem much thought. It’s stuck in a mindset. We apply previous methods to a seemingly similar problem instead of evaluating the problem on its own terms. This effect presents itself across various disciplines and skill levels. Whether we know it or not, we all experience it.
This book explores INNOVATION like never before.
₵50.00The Einstellung Effect
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At Nineteen: Bracing the Odds of Teenage Pregnancy
COMPELLING, REVEALING and HEART-WARMING, this is a memoir that will resonate with you forever.
When a young teenage mother sets out on a lonely path to care for herself and her unborn child in an unfavourable environment, she manages to continue her education after the birth of her child, despite the loss of her father, who was her most important support system.
She manages to give her child the best of everything with the support of family and a few close friends. But as fate would have it, the worst was yet to come.
Hers is a tale of suffering and survival.
A book that inspires strength and character through adversity and challenges in life.
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Live Your Dream: A Manual to Help bring Your Dreams into Reality
There are lots of people who have conceived powerful and amazing dreams but are wallowing in uncertainty, doubt and fear. This classic book has extracted and unveiled the core values of true wealth ; and that living a purposeful life means living your dream. It doesn’t matter how small or big your dream is; you’ve got to live it until you become it.
Live Your Dream is a divinely inspired manual uniquely crafted to inspire the young and the old to take huge strides in their God-given dreams.
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Inspirational Master Pills: Collection of Divinely Inspired Quotes
The Author writes to create a world of awareness on how great the Creator has given each and everyone an inspirational master pill to nurture our lives and to colour our worlds.
In this script, one will realise the immense contribution and the vital role each pill plays in our lives as the nutrients of life.
“Who you are is who you decide to be. Where you are is where you decide to be. Nobody can stop you from becoming who you were created to be and what you were created for except you. The greatest impediment on your progressive life is not the devil but the decisions you make. Every right decision you make has a tangible effect and produces the right result”.
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I Dare You
The Author in the timeline of the book, “ I Dare You” is the fighting spirit found in you. As humans, we need to unearth the positions of our inner spirit to enable us find our true strength of spirit.
Loaded in this script, you will decode mysteries of your inner self and intriguing life-long stories of great personalities around the world who were not born into privilege but managed to become great successes today.
Whereas some people might be born with “silver spoons” in their mouth, the chunk will have to strike hard in order to make it. These blockages prevalent and come what may, you surely have to discover yourself and work on it.
₵40.00I Dare You
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Akan Kasadwini (Akan Oral Literature)
The book is a pioneering work of Akan oral literature written in the Akan language. It gives a theoretical view of oral literature and a detailed account of the major genres of oral literature in Akan. It deals with an introduction to literature and some aspects of stylistics. It ushers students of literature into some of the crucial issues of literature. The book deals with what literature is, and what it can afford to individuals and the society as a whole. It considers literature as an indispensable aspect of any society’s life. It also identifies the main characteristics of literature with specific reference to oral literature.
The book treats some of the major terms in literature and supports them with examples. The book has 25 chapters and each chapter addresses, performance, composition, structure, functions and literary devices. Each chapter ends with sample questions that will help students to revise what they have learned from the chapter.
The book is in response to the needs of students at the WASSCE, Diploma and Degree levels to the subject matter of oral literature in Akan. This book will also help Training College students both in their course work at college and also in their teaching.
₵150.00 -
Infinite Roots
“I must tell you my history,” Baba would roar, “the history you learn at school is not better than that which I have to tell you. My history concerns you directly, it is who you are, what you are, and what you’re going to become.”
“…woven in an unbroken thread of prose…in a complex, digressive narrative that is like a set of Chinese boxes (or those Russian Matryoshka dolls), one laid inside another.” — Literary Review
Infinite Roots follows the multi-generational story of a Ghanaian military family, composed through the eyes of a young daughter learning about her history and culture through the many stories of her parents and elders. This autobiographical novel spreads out across the 60s and 80s Ghana as the military family journeys from Wa to Tamale to Accra to Kumasi to Takoradi to Ho and more. As the young girl grows, she also begins to share her own re-tellings as her elders once did.
“…it is an incredible survey of Ghanaian traditions, customs, superstitions and beliefs, as well as social and political history and the emergence of female education.” — Lee Oliver
₵80.00₵100.00Infinite Roots
₵80.00₵100.00 -
Highest Lows, Scattered Peaks
I have been told by many that I have managed to put into words, things they have only managed to feel. Never express in words.
This book is to let you know that it is okay to feel negative emotions strongly. It is okay to be confused, angry, sad and just plain old upset with life. But don’t stay negative. Don’t stay upset. Get it all out, and then move again.
My goal was that after writing this, even if you cannot relate to them all, you will find one piece that is yours. You will find one piece that sounds like it was written just for you.
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Prince of Monkeys
Growing up in middle-class Lagos, Nigeria during the late 1980s and early 1990s, Ihechi forms a band of close friends in his neighbourhood. They discover Lagos together as teenagers whose differing ideologies come to the fore over everything from film to football, Fela Kuti to God, sex to politics. They remain close-knit until Ihechi’s girlfriend, is killed in an anti-government riot.
Exiled by his concerned mother, Ihechi moves in with his uncle’s family, where he struggles to find himself outside his former circle of friends. Ihechi eventually finds success by leveraging his connection with a notorious prostitution linchpin and political heavyweight, and earning favour among the ruling elite.
But just as Ihechi is about to make his final ascent into the elite political class, he encounters his childhood friends and experiences a crisis of conscience that forces him to question his motives and who he wants to be. Nnamdi Ehirim’s debut novel, Prince of Monkeys is a lyrical, reflective glimpse into Nigerian life, religion, and politics at the end of the twentieth century.
₵135.00Prince of Monkeys
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Lagos to London
A tale of two Nigerian students Remi Coker and Nnamdi Okonkwo from different backgrounds who leave the shores of Nigeria full of hope to further their education abroad. Remi from the prestigious Coker family is expected to return home after her law degree to run the family law firm and Nnamdi, frustrated by the federal university strikes plans to escape Nigeria and never return.
The story follows their journey of newfound freedom, self-discovery, hope, unexpected turns, lessons, and the realities of life in the United Kingdom.
₵85.00Lagos to London
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Clearing Your Mental Deck
A lot of people are constantly on a quest to find the secret to achieving self-actualization, which is a term synonymous with success in life. The reality is that, success in life is firstly, a product of how you think and then secondly, of what you do. Your thoughts determine your action. We become what we think about. We manifest physically and constantly behold our minds. That is why this book, Clearing Your Mental Deck, has been put together to help you truly concentrate on arriving at the most important attributes that help every human attain their greatest desires. These attributes are considered by many people as the most important qualities that help us, not only to become successful, but also attain self-actualization.
₵65.00Clearing Your Mental Deck
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We Won’t Budge
Part autobiographical, part social commentary, this is a powerful and insightful look at the situation of border intellectuals at the beginning of the twenty-first century.
In this searing memoir, Manthia Diawara revisits his early years as an emigrant in love with Swedish girls and Western rock and roll music, taking us from the nightclubs of his hometown Bamako to the cafes of Boulevard Montparnasse and the black neighbourhoods of 1970s Washington DC, USA.
This book is about the developed world – that is the former colonisers of the African continent now busy slamming shut its doors to African and Arab immigrants.
It is also about human rights violations and racism against people of colour. Diawara writes that he wanted to give a human face to African immigration in today’s global world. He describes the reasons why many Africans leave the continent – such as poverty, persecution and lack of opportunities – and writes sometimes angrily and sometimes very movingly, about their predicament in Europe and the US, where they are caught between their traditions and the West’s vacuous modernity.
“With humour and the intimacy of a conversatonal tone, Diawara writes of the ‘global’ African as a nomad at the mercy of whirlwinds of economic and political dislocation at home and racism and intolerance abroad. He is not at home in his country; he is not at home abroad. But the nomad refuses to bow down to those whirlwinds, to let evil turn him around, and against all the odds becomes an active contributor to the multiculture of the globe. This is the story of a diasporic soul that finds home in its own resilience and in so may ways it is all our story.” – Ngugi wa Thiong’o (Author of A Grain of Wheat et al)
“We Won’t Budge is destined to become a classic – it is one of the most insightful, layered and moving accounts of the modern African Diaspora.” – Patricia Williams (Author of The Alchemy of Race & Rights et al)
₵85.00We Won’t Budge
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The Teller of Secrets (Ouida Edition)
In this stunning debut novel—a tale of self-discovery and feminist awakening—a feisty Nigerian-Ghanaian girl growing up amid the political upheaval of late 1960s postcolonial Ghana begins to question the hypocrisy of her patriarchal society, and the restrictions and unrealistic expectations placed on women.
Young Esi Agyekum is the unofficial “secret keeper” of her family, as tight-lipped about her father’s adultery as she is about her half-sisters’ sex lives. But after she is humiliated and punished for her own sexual exploration, Esi begins to question why women’s secrets and men’s secrets bear different consequences. It is the beginning of a journey of discovery that will lead her to unexpected places.
As she navigates her burgeoning womanhood, Esi tries to reconcile her own ideals and dreams with her family’s complicated past and troubled present, as well as society’s many double standards that limit her and other women. Against a fraught political climate, Esi fights to carve out her own identity, and learns to manifest her power in surprising and inspiring ways.
Funny, fresh, and fiercely original, The Teller of Secrets marks the American debut of one of West Africa’s most exciting literary talents.
₵165.00