Yaba Badoe is an award-winning Ghanaian-British documentary filmmaker and writer. In 2014 Yaba was nominated for the Distinguished Woman of African Cinema award. She travels frequently to chair film conventions and lecture. Her most recent documentary was The Art of Ama Ata Aidoo. Her debut novel, A Jigsaw of Fire and Stars, published by Zephyr, was shortlisted for the

Branford Boase Award 2018 and has been nominated for the 2019 Carnegie Medal. @yaba_badoe

About the book!

Ghanaian-British documentary filmmaker Yaba Badoe blends nature and feminism, themes she feels strongly about, in a timely new novel that calls us all to protect our environment, to conserve our heritage and to listen to the ancient power that connects us.   

Her debut, A Jigsaw of Fire and Stars, was prize shortlisted and is nominated for the 2019 Carnegie Medal. Like Jigsaw of Fire and Stars, Wolf Light is laden with elemental magic, myth and the rich rhythms of Yaba’s distinctive voice.

Three girls born on the same day in wolf light, the mysterious, magical dusk, are bound together to protect the world.   From the bleak steppes to the tropical forests of Ghana and the stormy moors of Cornwall, Zula, Adoma and Linet must perfect their skills and save the lands they love from being plundered and poisoned.

Theirs is powerful sister-magic.  A leopard dances under the moon. A wolf howls. A red-beaked bird flies free.

Review!

I just want to say a massive thank you to Zephyr books for giving me the chance to read this beautiful MG book.

Wolf Light follows three ‘Sisters.’ Born on the same day in the magic of Wolf Light, Zula, Adoma and Linet’s fates were entwined the moment they entered the world. Gifted with elemental magic and the ability to shape shift, they have one task. To protect their shrines, places filled with ancient magic, from the skin walkers, people who have forgotten about the old religion and only have one thing in mind…money. When Zula’s Pa takes her to their Shrine at the head of the sleeping giant, he draws a sign on her wrist and once she presses it her sisters appear, all together for the first time. With the help of their tutors they learn to harness their powers, both together and apart, but it is working together when they are at their strongest, and they will need to be strong to face the hurdles ahead.

This book was beautifully written and one of the main things I loved about it was the characters. Zula, a Mongol, she has been tasked by her father to take over protecting the sleeping Giant that looms over their home. Adoma, Ghaneese, she is to follow in Okami-pa’s footsteps and take over the protection of their shrine to . And Linet, the last in her line her task is to protect Linet lake, the place where all Linnet girls come from, and all must return to when it is their time. The author portrayed these girls perfectly, totally aware and focused on their tasks, when one sister calls the others answer, no matter the time or place. However, we get to see the lives they lead outside of their destiny, filled with typical young women problems of boys. This made it easier to bond with the characters and I found them much more realistic.

This book was almost a children’s version of American Gods Except apart from showing the battle between the old gods and the new, it shows how leaving the old gods and the practices of old, and following the call of the future will cause more damage to the planet than we can imagine. There was a big lesson in this about the current climate crisis, though I felt it wasn’t shoved down your throat. The author weaved her intended lesson into the story seamlessly and makes it a story about greed and how that can affect not only the person but how it spirals outwards affecting all around. It was a brilliant way of showing that we should go back to the basics, and what might happen if we don’t.

This is one of the first MG book’s I’ve read but it’s certainly given me the push to read more. Is this book for children? Yes. But there are so many lessons that older generations could learn from it as well. I definitely got chills at certain points of the book and it let me dive back onto the child inside me who would have loved to read something like this growing up. 4.5/5