The Crumbs Off the Wife's Table

by Hilda Ogbe

A white Norwegan woman who married a Nigerian in England during the World War II, here narrates the story of her life. Hilde Ogbe returned to Nigeria in 1956 and was naturalised in 1967. She subsequently establishes, and manages a silver jewellery company; studies astrology; and successfully treats sickle cell patients with local herbs and remedies.

328 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[deb]

This was a beautiful autobiography of a beautiful woman. Her approach to life shows how to have a positive stance to life. I am lucky to have bought multiple pairs of earrings from Ogbecraft!

(The book details here on goodreads is not entirely correct as she is not Norwegian but German.)

[Latifat]

'Reading again: "The Crumbs off the Wife's Table" by Hilda Ogbe. A remarkable, remarkable autobiography that shows the extent of a woman's sacrifices and even more, her strengths in the face of circumstances she cannot control. A must read!

[Carolee Weber]

The description of the book here is inaccurate -- Hilda was a German Jew who escaped Germany in 1939 and came as a refugee to England. She worked various menial jobs and met her future Nigerian husband in a factory. She had many different lives in her one life, and she seemed to be a very interesting and talented woman. I didn't like her husband much. But I would really have liked to know Hilda. Our African Book Group will be discussing this book and there are a couple of women in the group who were friends with Hilda -- one is mentioned in the book. So I hope to learn more about her. The book is not particularly well written, but it's a very readable memoir about an interesting life and I enjoyed learning about Nigeria in earlier days.