Edward Adigwe, The Outcast Heir, West Africa Book Publishers, 2010, pp 56
By Samson Akindoyo
The Outcast Heir traces the tortuous but inspiring path of a kingdom with palatably strong tropical African flavour. This work, a mix-grill of the serious and the lighthearted, identifies the perennial struggle between the powerful and the weak, truth and falsehood, human virtues and foibles here and there. You would decipher something of the past, the present and indeed the future.
Choosing an acceptable person to ascend the throne in Umuachala kingdom was difficult as the late king had no male child to succeed him. After much wrangling, the chiefs concluded to inquire from Amadioha, the god of justice who speaks through thunder and strikes with lightning. And Amadioha spoke, through the priest, a devout of the shrine who shouldered the responsibility of thwarting the impeding wrath of the aggrieved gods, a position that invariably put him in conflict with the gods and men, rashness and decorum, despair and hope.
The priest notes that the answer to the chiefs’ quest lay in a mad woman who should not be judged by her tribe or condition as a commoner. Doing contrary to this, Umuachala kingdom would know no peace.