Title: The Delicate
Author: Mirian Martins
Category: Young adult fiction
Blurb: Amarachi has the perfect life, the perfect family. But her life turns into a nightmare on her fifteenth birthday. As though being repeatedly raped by her father is not traumatic enough, her family conclude she’s crazy and send her off to a psychiatric hospital where she spends six months of her life locked away from the rest of the world until she finally escapes.
She travels to the United States and spends five years rebuilding her life. She returns home as an affluent widow with a totally new personality and a new identity—Bianca Adams. Now, the only emotion she feels for her family is hate, and the only thing on her mind is revenge.
What I think about the book: This book made me all mushy. Reading it made me realize it’s been ages since I last read a tragic (love) story. The protagonist, named Amarachi, is presented as a bubbly child who loves earning her parents’ attention, especially her dad’s. She comes from an affluent family of four—once five, but her twin brother died the day they were born—and dreams of getting married to a multi-billionnaire someday.
Her whole life falls apart after her fifteenth birthday. On that night, her father forces himself on her and takes away her virginity. He promises to kill her and her loved ones if she says a word to anyone. He makes it a nighttime habit to sexually abuse her when his wife is asleep.
The Delicate by Mirian Martins is more than just fiction. It addresses the bitter reality some children are forced to live with. They’re sexually abused; they’re broken; they’re devastated, slowly dying in silence because the threat of death seals their lips.
Amarachi’s mother isn’t observant enough to notice the abomination brewing in her own home. And when the poor girl finds enough courage to expose her father’s evil, the rest of her family do not believe her. Concluding she’s crazy, they send her to a psychiatric hospital, locking her away from the rest of the world.
And sadly, this is how some parents would react in similar situations—not exactly throwing their kids into mental homes, no. They would express doubt and an unwillingness to believe, especially when the culprit is a family member or a close friend. Molesting his daughter is not the only sin Amarachi’s father has committed against his family. There’s another—a secret as old as his daughter.
Mirian Martins, through this book, emphasizes the need for parents and guardians to keep a close eye on their children—especially their daughters—and monitor their relationships with the opposite sex. Girls are also admonished never to dress or act provocatively around the opposite sex so they never experience the horror of abuse.
The Delicate is a gripping tragedy suitable for all ages. Fans of happily ever after, prepare to step out of your comfort zone, as this story tells of a girl who was denied a happy ending by both her family and the Nigerian justice system.
Rating: 4.5 stars.
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Interesting synopsis and review. I think it’s ironic that Mirian admonished girls not to dress or act provocatively around the opposite sex so they never experience the horror of abuse. Considering the fact that her protagonist, Amarachi was abused by her own father. Perpetrators of sexual abuse are at fault not the victims.
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True, the victims aren’t at fault (at least in most cases). But Amarachi is always clad in bumshorts, which her father finds seductive. She loves his company and his affectionate hugs, so he kinds of gets the wrong idea that she’s seducing him in some subtle way.
Thanks for reading and leaving a comment. (:
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