The Shackles of Oruku Threats

About the Book

The Shackles.... underscores the underprivileged status. Males are preferred. Females are shunned. Only sons of the soil can buy, farm and inherit ancestral land, assets and property including children. Women are prohibited from buying ancestral land, but can become tenant or migrant farmers. In this true story, one woman goes beyond the call of her benevolent spirit, chi to organize communal farming to boost economic sustenance for her impoverished society after adopting almost twenty-five children, including orphans. Her progress and efforts are stalled because she is an "ohu." During a political crises bordering on social stratification, her barn is burned, her children are expelled from school and the Oruku village is thrown into chaos as many people are maimed, killed, displaced and made homeless. The novel covers universal parallels of economic survival, filthy politics of greed, social stratification, male chauvinism, discrimination and prejudice. It is an unforgettable story of courage.

About the Author

"Lynda Ukemenam’s literary credits include essays for the New York Amsterdam Newspaper in Harlem, New York, the essay African Women and Development for World Wise International Newspaper in New Hampshire. She wrote editorials and the leisure column for the African News Weekly based in Asheville, North Carolina and African Profiles International Magazine in New York. Her columns appeared in the Nigeria Abroad Newspaper in New Jersey and in the Nigerian News Digest in Asheville, North Carolina. She is an independent writer currently working on a sequel to The Shackles of Oruku Threats. Her other books include Taking A Bath? - A non-fiction text on circumcision and female genital mutilation. Her poems entitled; The Third World, Grasshoppers Invade New Territory, Somalia was published in the Maryland Review - The University of Maryland Press. Her alma mater was The College of Journalism, Fleet Street, London England. She has given lectures on Female Genital Mutilation at NYU at New York and on Male Order Brides – Trafficking in Child Marriages and Unionization of Female Migrant Workers at the State University of New York Stonybrook, NY and has lectured to several groups on similar topics. She has recently given a lecture on Crimes Against Women to the Sisters in Crime organization of Phoenix, AZ."