“Lingers in the mind long after the reading.” (D. Donovan, Senior Reviewer, Midwest Book Review)“Intense and interesting…with plenty of intrigue and strong character plot arcs to keep readers thrilled from beginning to end. 5 stars!” (K.C. Finn, Readers’ Favorite)A murderer returns to Africa, seeking atonement for killing an innocent.Now that Carlos has emptied out his life, his past torments … innocent.
Now that Carlos has emptied out his life, his past torments him. He can’t go forward until he goes back–to Ghana–to own up to crimes he committed as a young man.
A woman escapes poverty in Africa, but is trapped in a life supporting those she left behind.
Liz left Ghana and is now a successful career woman in the USA. Freed from the daily oppression of scarcity, she remains under the vice-grip power of her hoarding mother and needy siblings.
Their lives cross…
and each are drawn back to the Black Volta River, to relive harrowing events that transformed them.
The River knows their secrets, but can it transform their lives again?
Deeply embroidered, utterly believable, the rich tapestry of Ghana–and its startling evolution over three decades–serve as the backdrop for this powerful story about race, love, patriarchy, and personal identity.
more
Character-driven story of redemption set in Africa
It would be simplistic to say that Black Volta is a story of redemption—it is that—but so much more.
Set mostly in Ghana, West Africa, we get to know two deeply-flawed individuals. Carlos Mario seeks to atone for crimes he committed years ago, and Liz Abgali struggles under the burden of her family’s unending needs for support. This is definitely a character-driven story—and Ghana is also one of the characters.
Carlos Mario is a 50-something Puerto Rican born into privilege—who became a successful businessman—now a man of uneasy leisure. He has held his conscience at bay all of his adult life, but he returns to the scene of his youthful crimes in Ghana—seeking answers and possibly release from his prison of self-imposed guilt. Self-imposed because he got away with it—didn’t he?
While Liz, a native of Wa, Ghana, escaped poverty against all odds through sheer hard work and determination—and now supports her mother, and her siblings back in Ghana. She works at a high-paying hospital administrator job in Pittsburg, PA while sending money, and splitting her time between countries.
Their paths eventually will cross.
First we see Carlos take his journey back to the place where his father exiled him for his youthful misbehavior—to a monastic compound in Ghana meant to straighten him out. He escaped the monastery but settled in Ghana for a time anyway. It was during that time he committed his crimes, which continue to haunt him. He isn’t sure what he will do about it, and at first he approaches the trip back to Wa like a vacation, repeatedly pushing his real mission to the back of his mind.
Liz on the other hand is precariously balancing all the demands upon her time and bank account and she is buckling under the stress. Her mother, who lives with Liz, is a hoarder and compulsive acquirer. Liz credits Mumma with Liz and her siblings’ very survival and it’s this sense of indebtedness that drives Liz to repay and surpass the matriarch’s struggles.
She is building a home for her family and an orphanage compound for Mumma back in Ghana. And we see her using up the last of her vacation days to go oversee the construction. It’s a lot of stress, and she self-medicates to deal with it. More than anything, Liz is the responsible one, the one who succeeds and supports, and her family members are happy for her to continue doing that—even if it kills her.
Pete KJ takes us on the journey back to Ghana through the eyes of these two characters. They approach the trip so differently. One is relaxed and “goes with the flow,” and the other is frantic and haphazard, always on the edge of disaster. Frankly, neither of the two is particularly “likeable” at first. Liz is self-righteous in her martyrdom, and Carlos is … well, something of an “asshole” as Liz aptly labeled him.
But though the course of the book, we get to know them and the details of their stories and eventually we can see what drives them. Always, there is the richness of Ghana as a backdrop, its food, its relaxed and friendly culture—the way the people who live simply, have little, and yet squeeze joy from each day. It’s this backdrop that heals Carlos—while Liz needs yet another crisis to open her eyes. We see Ghana from a unique perspectives: both that of a visitor and from that of one who knows it more intimately. One suspects, that much of the color and incidental material was drawn from Pete’s own travels and time spent in Ghana. The detail seems accurate and it’s vicariously enjoyable.
Carlos and Liz’s own stories both take dark and unexpected turns, and how they react to these happenings make for a page-turner. If you like novels set in exotic locales, stories with a little mystery, stories about culture clash, or travel novels you’ll like this one.
I really liked this novel. Pete KJ has a very unique voice and I think this book deserves a much wider audience! I also enjoyed his earlier novels: The Coins (also in Ghana) and The Maple Leaf. I think we’ll be seeing more from Pete KJ in the future. His work straddles genres but I’d place it mostly in literary fiction, with strong multicultural aspects. Can’t wait to see what he comes up with next.
A beautiful story with a dark twist, Black Volta explores the culture of Ghana and the lives of two very different people searching for different things. This story is written well with flawless description and relatable characters who, at times, go through stressful, frustrating situations to reach their end goals. This story will definitely stick with me for some time and Pete K.J is a very talented author, with an incredible, engaging writing style. I look forward to reading more of his work in future!