It is the 1830s and Fima has her eyes on the future. While she helps her mother run a wholesale rice shop in the Sherbro Island estuary of West Africa, her mind is on the shape her own business will take one day. Her boyfriend Kai, however, has different ideas for her. One evening, an urgent message comes from their farm upcounty, and her mother must leave. Alone in the estuary for the first time, Fima finds herself not only in charge of their rice but also of a treasured family heirloom. No question: she wants this responsibility and is ready to take it on.
It is the 1830s and Fima has her eyes on the future. While she helps her mother run a wholesale rice shop in the Sherbro Island estuary of West Africa, her mind is on the shape her own business will take one day. Her boyfriend Kai, however, has different ideas for her. One evening, an urgent message comes from their farm upcounty, and her mother must leave. Alone in the estuary for the first time, Fima finds herself not only in charge of their rice but also of a treasured family heirloom. No question: she wants this responsibility and is ready to take it on.
26th Dec. 1838, Yagoi
“Laneh!” Fima called. “Laneh, you bad dog, where are you?” She banged his food pan with her cooking spoon and listened. Whenever her puppy disappeared, she searched first out near the forest behind the house. Today, though, there was no sniffing or digging noise in the undergrowth; no barking to answer her call.
Fima sniffed, herself, and remembered she had sauce on the fire. She half-ran back to the kitchen and found Mama Boi, her mother, adjusting the firewood under the pot. She looked up when she heard Fima. “There’s the spoon! Why are you walking around with it?” She stirred the pot and checked the heat and stood up. “Have you found Laneh?” Fima shook her head. “Never mind, he’ll turn up.”
“Not if someone captures him.”
“Who would harm a dog named ‘Faith’? Go and call for him again. But don’t go into the forest!”
Fima was heading for the side of the house when a shrill greeting sounded from down on the river path. After that came loud barking! A small dog had burst from the bush and stopped a woman in her tracks.
“Laneh!” shouted Fima, running down the path.
“You see?” called Mama Boi to Fima. “Didn’t I tell you? That dog is smart! There he is protecting our house.”
“It’s Fanta, Mama!” Fima folded the dog in her arms and gave her cousin a hug. She took her bags and they walked together up to the house. They were age mates, but it seemed to Fima that Fanta had turned into a woman in the years since she had seen her. The restless fingers and laughing mouth were still there, but she was somehow quieter than before. Then Fima remembered that if Fanta had just arrived from Mengbinteh, Mama Boi’s village, she would have been walking for two whole days.
“I’ll bring water to the washroom for you. We’ve almost finished cooking.”
Later, when they gathered on the veranda to eat, Fima couldn’t keep quiet. “Fanta, weren’t you afraid to come all this way by yourself? Your clothes smell like smoke. Was there trouble?”
“Yes! There was a raid up the river from here. They set fires to scatter people so they could capture them. The place I hid was not near flames, but there was a lot of smoke.”
“You shouldn’t have risked it!” Mama Boi said. “Why did you come? What has happened?”
“Grandma Karfua needs your help, Mama Boi. Her leg is worse. She can no longer farm. If you don’t come, we won’t get the harvest in.”
Mama Boi was quiet for a moment. Then she said, “We’ll leave in the morning.”
Is the concept of women making money so threatening to some village chiefs that they’ll sell the women to slave traders? That’s one of the questions swirling around this engaging and absorbing historical fiction read by Jacqueline Leigh.
This is an “imagined story” of a real-life girl named Fima who lived in the Sherbro Islands (part of modern-day Sierra Leone.) It’s also the story of “The Circle,” a powerful group of five women, along with their sand-dollar fossils, who vanish without a trace.
This is a well-written story with a nimble plot and well-rounded characters that bring this lesser-known chapter of history to life. The author does an excellent job of conveying a wide range of emotion such as fear, confusion and despair. Also determination, resilience, and hope. A compelling read, the story skims along quickly, like a canoe slicing through the waters of the Jong River.
There’s also the depth and strength of the mother-daughter bond and the bond between sisters. Without giving too much away, let’s just say the five women of The Circle have more power than anyone might have guessed. Don’t miss the Epilogue. It “tucks in the tail” nicely and rounds out the story quite well.
An engaging read that’s both enjoyable and educational, The Heritage Keepers will resonate with anyone who enjoys solid historical fiction.