Cursed Daughters

by Oyinkan Braithwaite

CURSES ARE LIKE HEARTS. SOME ARE MORE EASILY BROKEN THAN OTHERS... the twist-filled, spooky heartbreaker from the global-bestselling author of My Sister, the Serial Killer

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'A haunting, twisty tale of curses and romance' Ayòbámi Adébáyò
'A sweeping love story... I lost myself within its gorgeous pages' Jennie Godfrey
'Funny and fearless, soaked in secrets, spirit, heartbreak, and love... Impossible to put down' Abi Daré

No man will call your house his home. And if they try, they will not have peace... So goes the family curse, handed down from generation to generation, ruining families and breaking hearts as it goes. And now it's calm, rational Eniiyi's turn - who, due to her uncanny resemblance to her dead aunt, Monife, and her family's insistence that she must be a reincarnation, has long been used to some strange familial beliefs.

Still, when she falls in love with the handsome boy she saves from drowning, she can no longer run from her family's history. Is she destined to live out the habitual story of love and heartbreak, or can she escape the family curse and the mysterious fate that befell her aunt?

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Readers are falling hard for Cursed Daughters...

'Everyone's going to fall in love with this book'
'A stunning read. Possibly my book of the year so far'
'One of the best endings of a book I've read in a long time. So satisfying'
'Sharp, brilliantly written...and broke my heart on more than one occasion'
'I cannot express how much I adored this book - like truly, madly, deeply adored it' befell her aunt?

Genres: Fiction, Fantasy, Contemporary, Literary Fiction, Magical Realism, Audiobook, Africa

379 pages, Unknown Binding

First published November 4, 2025

About the author

OYINKAN BRAITHWAITE is a graduate of Creative Writing and Law from Kingston University. Following her degree, she worked as an assistant editor at Kachifo, a Nigerian publishing house, and has been freelancing as a writer and editor since. In 2014, she was shortlisted as a top-ten spoken-word artist in the Eko Poetry Slam, and in 2016 she was a finalist for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize. She lives in Lagos, Nigeria.

Reviews

[Roxane · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved Cursed Daughters for the rich storytelling and the generational narrative and the unique structure. Such a satisfying read and smartly written.

[emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

i wish my family had a curse.

or i did before this book. now it doesn't seem so fun.

https://emmareadstoomuch.substack.com...

i liked a lot about this book — its stubborn characters, its interlocking stories, just the general concept of some dark magic haunting women for generations — and was disappointed by some elements of it — the slow start and fast finish, the confusing layers of time and perspective, the inconsistencies and errors.

this both took me a long time to complete and was generally an enjoyable read.

bottom line: i'm in between!

(thanks to the publisher for the arc)

[Laura Lovesreading · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cursed or Fear?

Cursed Daughters is a darkly humoured novel about a young woman who must shake off the family curse that has been imposed on her blood line and deal with held belief that she is the reincarnation of her dead cousin.

Poor Eniiyi! Baby girl couldn’t catch a break from the day she was born. Having been born on the same say day as the funeral of her cousin, Monife, everybody from then always chirps up about the striking resemblance between her and the deceased woman. Which in turn has them believing that Eniiyi is going to end up as the same fate as Monife.

This was so wickedly good, and I enjoyed every single minute. I am so glad I was granted the audiobook because it really brought the story to life!

The family dynamics were entertaining and eye-rolling and I’m sure every African young woman can relate to the non-privacy of a big family household.

Told in 11 parts from the perspective of Eniiyi, Ebun and Monife who have been tainted with the ‘Falodun curse’ it was enjoyable reading their dilemmas and innermost thoughts. I particularly enjoyed Monife’s chapters more. Her quick wit and personality were intoxicating.

This author is a WRITER! She silkily weaves you through the story and you become lost in the fictional words. I am patiently waiting for what she has in store for us next!



Big thanks to WF Howes and NetGalley for the opportunity to review this ALC





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pre read
I loved My Sister the Serial Killer!
Eeeek just got approved to listen to the ARC! 🎧
Lets Goooooooo!
🤍💛🤍

[Sean Bookless · Rating 2 out of 5]

The dog was 30 years old and it wasn’t the central plot point.

[꧁ ༺Minne༻ ꧂ · Rating 4 out of 5]

★★★1/2 stars

There is a tale that has been passed down for generations in the Falodun family. It is a story of love, heartbreak, and a curse that prevents anyone from having a blissful romantic life. According to family lore, the curse began when an ancestor named Feranmi became involved with a married man. The man’s wife, furious and dramatic in just the right way for family legends, cursed Feranmi, her daughters, and their daughters to come: No man would ever truly stay, no love would ever last.

“It will not be well with you. No man will call your house, home. And if they try, they will not have peace. Your daughters are cursed— they will pursue men, but the men will be like water in their palms. Your granddaughters will love in vain. Your great granddaughters will labour for acknowledgement, but they will fall short of other women. Your daughters, your daughter’s daughters and all the women to come will suffer for man’s sake.”

What do they say about a scorned woman again? And over a man? From that moment onward, the women of the Falodun line began navigating heartbreak like a family tradition.

The novel traces this legacy through two generations of Falodun women across two timelines, past and present. Monife, passionate and reckless, becomes the most tragic embodiment of the curse after her doomed love affair with Kalu ends in devastating loss. Her cousin Ebun represents the generation caught between belief and skepticism, trying to live a practical life while still haunted by family history. Finally there is Eniiyi, Ebun’s daughter, who is born on the day of Monife’s funeral and resembles her so closely that the family believes she is her reincarnation (talk about pressure to perform in your family drama). Through these three women, the story explores how trauma, memory, and belief travel across generations.

Reading this reminded me of books like Things Fall Apart and The Concubine, which explore similar themes. In Cursed Daughters the curse works as a metaphor for generational trauma and a self-fulfilling prophecy. The belief in the curse becomes so deeply embedded in the family narrative that it begins to shape the women’s expectations and fears in love. Even those who do not fully believe in it act as if it is real, and that belief influences how they see themselves, approach relationships, and make choices in love. Over time, this creates a cycle in which belief and experience continually reinforce each other.

The novel is also deeply rooted in Nigerian culture, particularly Yoruba traditions. I appreciate how the book shows the dual religious reality in some Nigerian households: a family that identifies as Christian, goes to church on Sundays but still consults traditional spiritual practices, often called juju, when things get complicated. In this world, spirituality, ancestral beliefs, and patriarchal expectations all collide in ways that feel both oppressive and real.

The curse itself reflects cultural beliefs about the power of words and the weight they carry. In many oral traditions, language is thought to have real spiritual force. Combined with the cultural belief that children are doomed to pay for their parents’ sins, it is easy to see why these characters buckle under the supposed power of a curse spoken in anger. In this way, the suffering of the Falodun women becomes more than just personal tragedy. It reflects a broader cultural narrative where the consequences of a single act can echo through an entire lineage.

Social pressures play a major role in perpetuating the curse. Expectations around marriage, respectability, family reputation, and tribal discrimination weigh heavily on the Falodun women. The constant emphasis on finding and keeping a husband only adds to the anxiety surrounding the curse. The ever-present question of “When will you settle down?” layers extra tension onto every relationship, and when love fails under that pressure, it becomes easy to blame the curse. On top of this, the lack of recognition or support for mental health issues deepens the tragedy. Monife’s heartbreaking end, for example, could be seen as the result of depression, overwhelming emotional strain and poor choices in men (Kalu, I see you), but in a family and culture where mental health is neither acknowledged nor addressed, her suffering is instead absorbed into the narrative of the curse, reinforcing the idea that the women are doomed by fate rather than human experience.

I really enjoyed this novel and the message it tries to convey. However, I felt the ending was a bit abrupt. It felt like being completely absorbed in a program on TV and then this suddenly happens



I kept asking but where is the rest of it?

I also found it a bit difficult to get into at the beginning because of the writing and the narrative approach. In my opinion, the narrative does not spend much time grounding the reader in the social and cultural context of the story, which makes the early chapters harder to follow and less immersive than they could have been.

Once the story finds its rhythm, though, the thematic depth becomes much clearer. Cursed Daughters is less concerned with whether the curse is real and more interested in showing how powerful belief can be, especially when it is reinforced by family memory and cultural tradition. What is passed down from mother to daughter is not just a supernatural story but a legacy of belief in it, fear, grief, and expectation. In that way, the novel becomes a meditation on inheritance and identity.


Updates while reading ༄˖°.☕️.ೃ࿔📚*:･

I've been wanting to read this for a while...

[Rosh · Rating 3 out of 5]

In a Nutshell: A multi-timeline multi-perspective family saga. Impressive yet flawed female characters, somewhat flat male characters. Decent plot, good writing, good ending. Character-oriented. Unlike what the blurb says, this is not “wickedly funny”. (In fact, it’s not funny at all.) Don’t expect a clever satire like the author’s first novel; this one is more typical in its storyline. Recommended, though not as strongly as I had hoped to.

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Plot Preview:

2024. Lagos, Nigeria. Twenty-three-year-old Eniiyi has lived her entire life being told that she resembles Monife, her aunt who killed herself just before Eniiyi was born. She even tried moving out from her hometown, but the shadow of Monife was always there. Now she's back after eleven years, returning to the home where she grew up, and to the women who raised her: her mother Ebun who has always been a single mother refusing to provide details of Eniiyi's father, Grandma East (Ebun’s Mom) who is always on the lookout for her next husband despite already having had four, and Grandma West (Monife’s mum) who still hopes that her husband will return to her and believes that Eniiyi is Monife reincarnated. The older women believe in the Falodun family curse, according to which none of its daughters can find a fulfilling relationship. Is Eniiyi the next target of the curse?
The story comes to us from the third-person perspective of Eniiyi, Ebun, and Monife from multiple timelines.

Sophomore novels by successful debut authors are often read not just with high expectations but also with a comparison of the two works. This isn't fair to authors who can (or want to) write in more than a single genre. It’s obviously better if we read every book for what it is than for how it stands compared to the author’s earlier book(s). This, of course, is easier said than done.

‘Cursed Daughters’ is a fairly strong novel on its own. But unlike the author’s debut (‘My Sister, the Serial Killer’ – a clever and creative satire delivering offbeat humour with aplomb), this sophomore novel has no humour or novelty, being an intergenerational family saga that’s more traditional in its plotting. If you compare it with MSTSK, it feels like a pale second effort. But if read on its own merit without the burden of comparisons or expectations, it delivers somewhat better.


Bookish Yays:
😍 The cover (of the US edition). So brilliant in its visual appeal, but its deeper significance, revealed after you read a few chapters, is even more striking. The cover artist deserves applause for capturing the plot so well.

😍 The three main women whose point of view tells us the story: Ebun, Monife, and Eniiyi. Not characters I could easily root for, but definitely good characters for such a plot. They are different in their personality as well as in their approach to life. Just because they are “cursed” doesn't mean they are portrayed as innocent and sweet victims. In fact, they are often lacking in common sense. I like that the plot highlights their flaws as well.

😍 A special shoutout to all the character names – so poetic and authentic to the culture!

😍 The choice of having Monife’s POV, even though the prologue reveals that she killed herself. It makes her POV bittersweet as we are already aware of what awaits her.

😍 The use of the resemblance between Monife and Eniiyi to create tension and drama and even mild paranormal vibes – cleverly done.

😍 The depiction of contemporary Nigeria which is still rooted in traditional values while embracing modernity. The contrast is intriguing. I am always reminded of India when I read stories set in Nigeria because we have the same duality in our metropolises.

😍 The ending. Perfect for the story.


Bookish Okays:
😐 The decision of writing the story from three characters’ perspectives, but with each POV coming in a chunky section containing multiple chapters instead of shifting perspectives after every chapter. This makes it easier to stay invested in each narrative. However, the changing timelines might be somewhat tricky. Better keep track of the dates.

😐 The interlude chapters, narrating the impact of the supposed curse on the Falodon women of earlier generations. Interesting in many cases, but has no direct role to play in the plot. It’s just a dramatic addition.

😐 The older Falodon grandmas and the other female characters. They suit their roles, but their dominant trait is of being bitter and toxic. I wish their characters had been more well-rounded.

😐 Good to see that the women have a loyal and loveable family dog. But confusing to learn that he’s almost thirty. How???


Bookish Nays:
😒 The main theme of “cursed daughters” is clear from the title and the story stays true to this without deviating a lot. It is a typical curse narrative in that sense. Even the themes of intergenerational trauma and patriarchal subjugation are fairly common in their execution. It’s not all bad, just that it offers no surprises. Perhaps this is on me for having read too many books with cursed daughters. Just for once, I’d like to read a book where the sons are also cursed. Books with family curses about daughters not being happy and/or fulfilled in love across generations are so done to death!

😒 The curse itself. Barely explored. The curse angle promised a mildly supernatural fantasy, but it ends up more like a long-running streak of bad luck + superstition + poor decision-making.

😒 Almost all the male characters. Boring and flat. Hardly any notable exceptions to this.

😒 A majority of the love stories in this novel seem based on physical attraction with not much further depth.

😒 The prose is surprisingly lacklustre.


🎧 The Audiobook Experience:
The audiobook, clocking at 9 hrs 24 min, is narrated by Diana Yekinni, Nnei Opia Clark, and Weruche Opia. I appreciate the choice of having three narrators, one for each POV. Their performances are on point, capturing the personality of their characters effectively. If you want to try this novel, the audio version is a solid option, except to those who might be confused by the frequent perspective and timeline shifts.


Overall, this book handles its topic well enough. But as MSTSK had such an unusual plotline with excellent dark humour, this one feels more straightforward and dull in comparison. I like the debut novel better as it is more my type of story than this mostly typical plot.

It has taken seven years since her debut for the author’s second novel to come out. So I am a little disappointed that this trod the line so closely instead of veering into an unexplored path. The author sure has creativity, so I hope her next offering is much more in keeping with her potential.

Recommended, though not with as much gusto as I had anticipated. This is better suited to readers of family dramas who don’t mind reading unlikeable characters.

3.25 stars.


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I follow the Goodreads rating policy:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Lifelong favourite!
⭐⭐⭐⭐ - I loved the book.
⭐⭐⭐ - I liked the book.
⭐⭐ - I found the book average.
⭐ - I hated the book.
The decimals indicate the degree of the in-between feelings.

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Connect with me through:
My Blog || The StoryGraph || Instagram || Facebook ||

[BookOfCinz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Imagine being born the day your cousin is buried and being born with her exact face... Yes, this is just one of the curse happening in this book.

Braithwaite knows how to write an interesting book and I love how she always center female characters who are likeable and unlikeable. This is definitely an interesting read that I absolutely enjoyed.

Re-read this for BookOfCinz Book Club and what a beautiful book! Please read it.

[Zoë · Rating 4 out of 5]

reading this in public was the wrong choice (I was crying)

[Akankshya (catching up) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Words can't express how I fell in love with this novel, but I'll try. It was spellbinding.

This is a story of three women who try to deal with a curse on the women of the Falodun family: that they will be abandoned by their men and left with broken hearts. Eniiyi is born to Ebun on the same day that Ebun's cousin Monife dies, and to Ebun's distress, her family starts believing that Eniiyi is Monife's reincarnation.

I love a convoluted drama, a smattering of magical realism, and morally grey (dark enough that you have to squint to find the virtue) female protagonists. Fear of the curse manifests differently in each of the women, and the novel does a great job of showcasing the descent into faulty decisions, delusions, and depression. I loved just about everything about the exploration of fear, notions of fate, superstition and spirituality that this novel manages to accomplish while building an elaborate romantic and familial drama that I became incredibly attached and invested in. The timelines are haphazard so keeping track could be a little difficult (I kept flipping back and forth to keep track), but the structure is so worth it by the end.

Much recommended, this just became one of my favorites. Read if you like complex family drama narratives.

[Creya Casale | cc.shelflove · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to Doubleday for providing a physical copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Cursed Daughters is a very different book from Braithwaite's debut novel, but in a good way. I devoured My Sister, the Serial Killer, but her writing style and maturity have skyrocketed to new levels since. Told in multiple perspectives, we follow the Falodun women:

• Monife, who committed suicide after falling too hard for her Golden Boy;
• Ebun, Monife's cousin who has kept the secret of Monife's suicide safely under lock and key; and
• Eniiyi, Ebun's daughter who just might have found her own Golden Boy to love...

All three women are affected by the Falodun curse, where bad things happen if they become too close to handsome men. It has been a while since I've read literary fiction, and this novel was a great reintroduction to the importance of a novel's characters. I absolutely loved the structure of the book—while told in 11 parts, it was not difficult to follow. Hopefully we don't have to wait another seven years for Braithwaite's next creation.

[Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book contained interesting themes about familial lineage, women reckoning with and fighting back against patriarchy, and intergenerational trauma. Unfortunately, the writing itself wasn’t gripping to me, the prose felt a bit plain. It was also difficult for the plot to build suspense given that we knew or had a sense of what was going to happen from the beginning. An okay novel that didn’t grip me as much as the author’s debut, My Sister, the Serial Killer.

[Roman Clodia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a gorgeously intense story about a complicated family of women cursed in the past in their relationships with men. Braithwaite has raised the level of sophistication since her already wonderful My Sister, the Serial Killer and manages to combine a kind of raucous humour around the grandmothers with a powerful love story featuring Monife, the standout character for me.

The background of Lagos is beautifully rendered from the tribal frictions through to the modern city with an undertow of superstition - and the use of an African local mythology in the epilogue was an unexpected delight that changes the story we thought we knew.

I listened to the audiobook which is wonderfully read by two different narrators to give us distinct voices, and the accents really help to embed this story in the culture it springs from.

Many thanks to WF Howe for an audiobook via NetGalley

[DianaRose · Rating 4 out of 5]

this was immensely better than my sister, the serial killer!

cursed daughters is a matriarchal family drama that spans three generations and follows the abandoned falodun women who all live under the same roof and experience bad luck with men across the board.

a new baby girl is born on the same day that beloved daughter monife dies, and there is no denying the similarities between eniiyi and her deceased aunt as eniiyi grows older and becomes entwined with the same family that drove monife to her death decades before…

i’m very happy that i tried another one of oyinkan braithwaite's novels! this was a fantastically heartbreaking and intensely dramatic read.

——

up next since my libby hold is expiring - while i didn't really enjoy my sister, the serial killer, i did want to read oyinkan braithwaite's newest novel!

[Morayo · Rating 1 out of 5]

Buckle up girlie pops, this is going to be a long one. I need to vent.

I wish I could give this 0 stars. I get why people finish books out of spite but how I wish I dnfed this.
I did not because I kept thinking it would go somewhere. Whenever I thought I couldn’t suffer from any more second hand embarrassment, I was taken to the depths of embarrassment hell.

Brief back story, long before I knew what dnfing meant, I had done that with my sister the serial killer. Like long long long long ago. I don’t even remember the year. I googled the ending a few months ago because a friend read it and I was so unimpressed.

Now like a fool, I decided to give this one ago because I am a firm believer in second chances.

Now to the actual story.
I cannot tell you what the plot of this book was because it made no sense. There was no substance. At all.

We get the back story of how the women in the Falodun line became cursed. The babe was having an affair with a married man. The wife did not curse the philanderer in question. It was only the babe.

Cool.

We are following the lives of Ebun, Monife(what a beautiful name) and Eyiiyi(another stunning name). This is done through time jumps and sprinkled in between is stories of maternal ancestors and how the curses affected them.

I did not like the time jumps. One minute we are in 2000, then we are in 1997 then it’s 2006 and oh look at that we are in 2024. Helloooo?!!

I hated all of the women in this book and that is something I have never said in my life. I hated the men too. Infact I wanted to deck everybody I’ve never read a book that cantered men so much so that it was to their detriment. It is shocking to me how not a single woman in this book had some sort of common sense or sense of self:
- all the maternal ancestors that were not main characters were all very unwise
- The grandmothers in the book, I would assume that when you’re past a certain age, so comes wisdom but it was seriously lacking.
- Ebun was no better. Initially a child she was growing on me and then it just fell to shits. When the end was revealed about how she convinced Monife to get an abortion with her and she didn’t follow through??! I hope the guilt eats her alive. What an awful human being. It’s good that she felt haunted by the fact that her daughter looked like her cousin
- Monife… girl??? I can’t claim to be in love so I don’t understand the choices she made but all of them made me wear shame like boubou. You can’t be doing all of this because of Kalu. Also I hated the name golden boy so much. RIP to her sha
- One would expect Eniiyi to have sense. Actually I should not have expected that because it’s not a family trait. She didn’t have a personality except she was presumed to be Monife returned. This babe had the opportunity to go to London for a job. An opportunity for her to leave her family and find her own. You know what this babe said??! She’s like her boyfriend is here, as per in Lagos so she can’t go. She eventually left when everything scattered
- Kalu’s mom was a tribalist and an all round awful person. A boy mom *derogatory*.
- Amara you witch! I don’t begrudge her marrying Kalu because it was inevitable. But for her to scratch Eniiyi because she looked like Monife and her son was in love?! A raggedy woman

Now to the men.
- Tolu was pretty useless in the whole book up until the end
- Kalu Kalu Kalu… it was unreal how oblivious her was to his mom and Amara. His reaction to the juju bit was valid. The fact that he married Amara after 8 months?? I know what you are. Then the whole cheating and abortion p and then bring remorseful 20+ years after? You can go straight to hell.

No character had personality. I also may have missed it because it was poorly developed.

What upset me most and why I’ve written such a lengthy review is the fact that I was hopeful and it had a good start. I am very soft on magical realism because I enjoy it so much but this was so underwhelming

I have come to the end of my review and my journey with the author.

[mj]

YEARS!! I have been waiting for years for another book from this queen I'm shaking

[Dutchie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Braithwaite has once again successfully sucked me into a novel with a catchy title. As with her previous novel My Sister, The Serial Killer, I went in thinking I was going to get a certain type of story only to be spun a different tale than what I was expecting. Cursed Daughters does deal with a curse, but exactly how that curse is portrayed is much different.

The Falodun women have been cursed with heartbreak after one of their ancestor’s relationship with a married man was exposed. With each new generation, heartbreak ensues. Told mainly thru Monife’s and Eniiyi’s POV we see them navigate their relationships and the effect the curse has brought on them.

When I first started reading this, I didn’t think it was going to be for me. However, I stuck with it because I felt very similarly during the author’s previous novel that I read and ended up really liking it. Same was the case here. Braithwaite does such an excellent job of building characters that showcase both their flaws and strengths. There were definitely some heartbreaking moments, but there were also uplifting moments as well. You can’t help but root for these two women. I also enjoyed the inclusion of the Nigerian culture that both of her novels have included. I find myself googling some of the terms that I am not familiar with and learning new things.

If you enjoyed this authors debut novel, be sure to check out this one!

[Andre(Read-A-Lot) · Rating 5 out of 5]

“It will not be well with you. No man will call your house, home. And if they try, they will not have peace. Your daughters are cursed— they will pursue men, but the men will be like water in their palms. Your granddaughters will love in vain. Your great granddaughters will labour for acknowledgement, but they will fall short of other women. Your daughters, your daughter’s daughters and all the women to come will suffer for man’s sake.”

And this curse was issued by A first wife to the pretty and confident second wife-Feranmi Falodun-and has affected the Falodun family for generations. No woman has been able to hold on to a man or husband. Eniiyi a five or six times great granddaughter doesn’t believe in this curse and when she falls in love with a great guy, it seems like the curse will finally be broken.

But…Ms. Oyinkan Braithwaite has crafted a wickedly humorous story filled with dramatic twists and unnerving turns that will totally captivate readers, leaving them constantly hoping, grasping and cheering for the curse to be broken. Could Eniiyi end up being brokenhearted?

Ms. Braithwaite’s prose is lyrical and beautifully engaging making this book unputdownable. She weaves indigenous beliefs with modern youthful skepticism, always bounded by familial love and wisdom. Eniiyi is a complicated protagonist, because her birth is believed to be a reincarnation of her Aunt who died the same day she was born, hmmm? Is that possible?

Ms. Brathwaite skillfully builds this novel in a non-linear manner jumping back and forth in time and shifting the perspective between generations all the while balancing tensions and imbuing the characters with real life emotions! This is very clearly a 5⭐️ effort.
I’m very grateful to Netgalley and Doubleday books for providing an advanced DRC. Book will drop November 4, 2025, buckle up for an emotional ride!

[Teju A · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly highly recommend to anyone that wants to learn about family dynamics in the Yoruba culture in Nigeria!
This delves into the complicated relationships btw daughters and mothers and how that could tie into some mythology for the Yoruba's. This was so relatable!
It also sheds light into relationships with significant others!

I want readers to get a glimpse into my culture; the good and the bad and how this family manages to navigate through it all!

Solid 5 stars!!!!!

[lami ☆ [hiatus till april] · Rating 4 out of 5]

⋆ ── four point five stars🕸️
I really struggled to find an articulate way of putting all my thoughts down, so bear with me. My Sister, the Serial Killer was my introduction to Oyinkan Braithwaite's writing, but this is the book that made me consider myself a fan. In Cursed Daughters, she weaves together a story of generational trauma, curses, and Nigerian superstition.

I want to preface this by saying, I do not believe in reincarnation. However, when it comes to fiction, I'm willing to suspend my belief. I say most times, because this wasn't one of them. The scene is set for us, and we, the readers, are given room to draw our own conclusions, but despite all the tempting evidence, I don't think Eniiyi is a reincarnation.

It's a mixture of the fear the Falodun women carry because they have been tagged as cursed, and their shared guilt that they did not do enough for Monife. Especially Bunmi's guilt of failing her daughter. She took Eniiyi as an opportunity to atone for her wrongs, and in doing so, essentially groomed her to believe she was Monife.

And on the topic of the curse. I believe their psychological rewiring, stemming from their awareness of the curse, played a part in the failure of their relationships. I wonder what a Falodun woman removed from that environment and without prior knowledge of all of this would fare.

The characters were so fascinating, from the older women, Grandma East and West, down to Eniiyi herself. The only thing I wished there was more of was Ebun's perspective. I felt like she was just relegated to protective mother/quiet cousin for most of the book. I would have loved to see more of her when she was just Ebun.

At the end of the day, the best novels are the ones that create discourse, and what an incredible job this one does.

[AsToldByKenya · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just love books written in this structure. The writing was smooth and the characters electrifying. its probably more like 4.75 the ending needed bit more punch. but overall great

[Stitching Ghost · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a sucker for a good récit d’une mort annoncée and Braithwaite did not miss, I was hooked. It was sad, beautifully written and impeccably paced (not something I say a lot about books that jump back and forth in time).

[Diana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Honestly hurts my soul to only give this a fairly low rating (it’s probably closer to a 2* even) - I love My Sister, the Serial Killer and I’ve been waiting for Braithwaite’s follow-up ever since, but this didn’t land for me. If I didn’t know the author and hadn’t been so excited for this, I wouldn’t have read past the kindle sample. In fairness, it might just be because I was expecting something different though and I can see it working better for a different type of reader. But I have thoughts.

As per the title, this is about a family where all the women believe themselves to be cursed to always chase but never find happiness with a man. We mainly follow two sisters born in the 70s/80s, Monife and Ebun, and then one of their daughters, Eniiyi, who everyone treats less as a real person and more as the reincarnation of her dead aunt. The “cursed” romances were the least interesting part of the story somehow. Both Monife and Eniiyi are supposed to be super tragically in love with two guys they fell in love with after just looking at them once; I suppose it’s part of the book’s message that these men were actually not worth the drama everyone put up over them, but it was still boring to read about. I was actually surprised by this because the unrequited love story in My Sister the Serial Killer had way more depth to it - you really understood how the main character had developed this crush but also how she had constructed this fantasy that didn’t match the reality of the actual man. This wasn’t the case here at all somehow, even though this is way more of a romance focused story than Braithwaite’s debut.

Only once, at the very end, does a side character call out his female relatives about their obsession with the curse - or rather, he points out how rather than being about keeping the family’s women from finding happiness with a man, the curse seems to be about them being doomed to obsess over men. I’ll take it one step further and say that I find it ridiculous that in the entire book no one ever a) turned out to be lesbian lol (regardless of the cultural context, you’re telling me not even the Gen Z daughter ever wondered about this?) and b) pointed out how the real curse is this family’s unreal toxicity and dysfunctionality. Or forget about dating a woman even, how about trying to find meaning in life outside of romantic relationships? As another reviewer put it, none of these women have friendships, interests or even familial love. All of these characters seemed so empty, completely dominated by some overblown obsession with random guys. Again, this is probably what the “curse” is all about, but to not even acknowledge this?
I think because of all this, I found the stakes of the story to be very low and didn’t really care about any of the characters at all.

I would’ve liked some more introspection into the toxic family dynamics and the blind adherence to this heteronormative romantic ideal they all seem to cling to to the detriment of having any other thoughts or feelings.
I’ll read whatever Braithwaite writes next, but it seems like the curse that follows me is the somewhat disappointing sophomore work of authors I’d had such high hopes for…

[Kate O'Shea · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

Cursed Daughters is the story of the Falodun family - or rather the women since it is they who carry a curse which condemns them to lives where their love lives will be a disaster.

We begin the story shortly after Monife, the daughter of Bunmi and an absent father, has taken her own life. We then go back in time to 1995 to follow Monife and her cousin, Ebun's lives then we jump forward to 2004 for the story of Ebun's daughter Eniyii, who the family believes is a reincarnation of Monife - as doomed as her aunt and the rest of the Falodun women to have a broken heart. But can Eniyii change her fate?

Cursed Daughters is an excellent story but after a while I found thd narrative quite repetitive - constantly reminding us of the curse and giving us the inevitable heartbreaking for each generation.

I also found it quite hard to like any of the characters except Eniyii.

Thd culture is also fascinating looking at tribal divisions, which seems to matter more than where someone lives or how much money they have.

Ostensibly this is a book of star crossed lovers and it is none the worse for that. Monife's distress and unwillingness to give in to the curse is quite moving. Along with the inability of her family to try to break it.

On the whole I enjoyed it and would recommend it. Thankyou to Netgalley and Atlantic Books for the advance review copy.

[K.J. Charles]

Bit of a disappointment after the excellent first book by this author. I didn't find the characterisation strong or distinct enough to carry the lack of a driving external plot; the book also didn't commit either to the reality of a curse (that the women of the family will never have happy relationships) or to the realisation that the 'curse' is basically just the combination of a fairly poisonous family, supersition, and a patriarchal/misogynistic culture. I felt like it all needed turning up a few notches, basically. YMMV

[Tindra Lund · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unfortunately, this book turned out to be nothing like I had hoped. I kept waiting for something to happen — something that would sweep me away and truly pull me into the story. But it never did.

I found myself countless times thinking, “Isn’t something more going to happen soon?” or “When will the plot actually kick in?” The further I got into the book, the more it felt like a clear storyline was drifting further and further away.

It actually pains me a bit to write this, because I really wanted this book to deliver.

But for me, not much really happened. The saying “all talk and no action” unfortunately sums up my experience of the book quite well.

Well — not every book can be a favorite for everyone. ☺️
Even though this one wasn’t quite a hit for me, I’m still planning to read My Sister, the Serial Killer by the same author. Hopefully that book will give me a better impression of Oyinkan Braithwaite. 🫶

[Oyinda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had the best time reading this book! It was so so well done. The twists were twisting omg. Some reveals later on in the book actually left me gobsmacked. The writing, the plot, the characters, all so so good. Well done and thank you, Oyinkan Braithwaite!

I loved that it was soooo focused on the women and tracing their matrilineal lineage. It’s a curse that affects women so I love that the chapters that focus on each woman’s experience with the curse starts with “x, daughter of x, daughter of x, daughter of x, who was cursed”.

I LOVE the curse aspect of the book. Omg. I loved it so much. It’s something about books and shows/movies that centre a prophecy or curse. The characters end up playing right into the curse or whatever they’re trying to avoid.

These women were so imperfect and self-destructive. It was so mesmerising to see. I also really enjoyed the rotating POVs and various jumps through time.

Monife, my sweet girl. What a sad tragic character. I wish I could go into the book and shake her and snap her out of it. It was so sad reading her chapters leading to the scene at the start of the book.

The audiobook narration and production was so well done. A huge shoutout to the authentically Nigerian narrators - Weruche Opia, Diana Yekinni, Nnei Opia Clarke- for the amazing job they did bringing these women to life.

This was so good, guys. I love a good multigenerational book and books that focus on mother-daughter relationships. This gave me the best of both worlds.

I highly recommend this book, guys!

[Luna]

Oyinkan Braithwaite star que tu es LE livre dont j’avais besoin sans le savoir il a heal des parties de moi insoupçonnées bref lisez-le

[Marialyce]

I am quitting at 35%. This was such a dull story where nothing seemed to move forward. I loved her My Sister, The Serial Killer but this one was a fail for me.

[Ellery Adams · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars.

I found this novel absolutely riveting. I loved the family drama, the curse haunting generations of women, and the resolution of that curse at the end. The women in this novel are flawed (there were times I wanted to yell at them to practice safe sex and use birth control) but they are also tender, ambitious, and devoted. The mother/daughter relationships were the most powerful and the most emotionally fraught. I was rooting for them to learn to love themselves and one another, and to stop basing their happiness on men. Ms. Brauthwaite created some unforgettable characters in Cursed Daughters. I never miss the chance to listen to Nigerian books on audio because the accents are so beautiful, and the audiobook version was excellent.

[Adrian Dooley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved My Sister The Serial Killer and so when I got the opportunity to read Cursed Daughters I jumped at it.

Yes they are by the same author but that’s where the similarities end. Where Serial Killer was bright and funny, Daughters is very melancholy, mystical but ultimately about hope.

Set in Lagos, it tells the story of a family of women that believe they have had a family curse handed down through generations - that they will never be able to hold on to a man and no matter how much they think they are in love, their relationships are destined to fail.

And now it’s the turn of Eniiyi, who due to her remarkable resemblance to her dead aunt Monife, has lived her whole life with her families strange and ancient beliefs as well as them believing she is the reincarnation of Monife.

When Eniiyi saves a man from drowning and finds herself falling in love with him, can she break the supposed family curse of is she pre destined to fail?

This one took a while to get going as I got to grips with what was going on but once I did I was totally sucked in to these women’s lives, their beliefs and eventually their secrets.
Told from multiple points of view in different time lines, it’s straight fiction really with a sprinkling of supernatural.

The further I got into the book, the more I enjoyed it. Just as you think you have a grip on the story something else is revealed that just keeps adding layers to the story.

It’s hard to pin point the overall tone of the book. Melancholy is my best effort at describing it but I’m not even sure that sums it up as it’s also about hope, secrets and the human condition.

A stunning read. Posssibly my book of the year so far.

Thanks to the publisher for the ARC through Netgalley.