Daughter in Exile
A Moving African Story of Love, Motherhood & Survival
Written by Angel James
Daughter in Exile is an African novel that follows a young woman of Ghanaian descent. At its core, it's a coming-of-age story that traces Lola’s journey, from navigating life in Senegal with her housemate-turned-best friend to falling in love and crossing borders, both literally and emotionally, in pursuit of a dream that seems borrowed.
Lola begins her story in Senegal, sharing a peaceful life with her housemate. They live modestly but with stability, enough to afford domestic help and imagine brighter futures. But new dreams take shape when Lola meets Armand, a U.S. Marine. Moved by love, she becomes pregnant and makes the life-changing decision to move to the U.S. to start fresh with him.
Lola loses a bulk of investment provided by her partner for a business they plan to profit from. With only $250 to her name, pregnant and without secure housing, she remains determined to start over. Not long after arriving, Armand disappears - ghosting her in every sense. From being promised to stay with Armand’s best friend who has no idea of such plans, Lola decisions dawn on her.
Time passes, and she faces a harsh reality: this isn’t home. Bisi Adjapon explores what it means to rebuild from the ground up, from living a comfortable life as a young woman in Senegal to moving across borders with no one but a baby barely formed within. Lola moves from place to place. First taken in by a Jehovah’s Witness for just one night, then by Olga, an old friend from Senegal, and by a family member whose kindness quickly turns sour, leaving her homeless once again.
To start afresh is to find solace in one of life’s many pleasures; love. But for Lola, romantic relationships echo a pattern of abandonment and hardship. Another relationship ends with her pregnant again, and once more, she’s left alone, as a single mother of two. Work is difficult to come by in America, especially for someone with a visa that doesn't permit employment. Desperate, she’s forced to make morally complex decisions like faking work papers in order to survive. It’s at this point she realizes that she’s not living for herself alone, but for her children. It’s the knowledge that once you bring life into the world, you don’t live or yourself only.
Throughout the novel, Adjapon challenges the idealized perception of life in the West held by many Africans. The belief that success is more attainable in places like America has driven many to pursue seemingly liberating dreams. In today’s world, especially in Africa, the urge to up and leave homes in pursuit of greener pastures is a typical example. While it doesn’t go south for some, the notion that you can wake up tomorrow with a dream job and house, has altered the truth of what it means to move across shores to build a life from scratch and adapt to new cultures. Daughter in Exile brings us back to reality: life is not easier elsewhere, especially not in the land of the free.
Bisi Adjapon Ghanian/Nigerian Author
Another critical element is the role of the church. Lola finds temporary solace within religious spaces but also experiences judgment and stigma from the very people who should offer sanctuary. Adjapon paints a realistic picture of human duality. The coexistence of kindness and cruelty, of help offered and then withdrawn. These contradictions reveal deeper truths about human nature. It’s seen in the way Lola is judged for being a single mother of two, and the masking of care when she’s persuaded to give up her child. Bisi Adjapon fully capturesthe reality of places of worship and the notion that all would be able to live the exemplary life of God when truly, the flesh of man is what differentiates him from the sovereign being.
The novel does not shy away from portraying the layered struggles of women, particularly African and Black women in the diaspora. It addresses the weight of racism, patriarchy, and isolation, especially for single mothers. Lola’s story is one of quiet strength; the mother who wakes up each day with dread but chooses to carry on for her children. It's a painful yet accurate depiction of many African women’s realities. And yet, despite everything, she remains someone who deserves love.
In the end, her journey comes full circle. Not through romance or material success, but through the unwavering love of her mother. That, in the truest sense, becomes home. While the relationship with her mother is not the rosiest, Lola rests in the knowledge that love never dies and her mother, being her home, proves that to her.
Bisi Adjapon skillfully weaves African and Western settings throughout the novel. Each chapter is threaded with cultural significance, particularly in its use of Adinkra symbols, deeply rooted in Akan heritage. Daughter in Exile is a powerful reflection on womanhood - African womanhood, Black womanhood - and on themes that remain urgent and universal.
Through the actions of her characters, Adjapon exposes the dualities of life: good and evil, grace and failure, hope and despair. Help is offered, and help is withheld. It is raw. It is honest. And it is deeply human.
