Becoming Abigail by Chris Abani

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Book Review: Becoming Abigail by Chris Abani
Becoming Abigail by Chris Abani is a novella about the tragic life of a teenage Igbo girl, named Abigail Tansi. Abigail’s mother died during her birth, and she is named after her. However, the girl’s startling physical likeness of her mother torments her ailing father, who is reminded of his late wife every time he sees Abigail. Towards the end of his life, her father asked her to go and live with Peter, a distant cousin and resident of London, who had sexually molested her in the past. In London, Peter subjects her to prostitution, which she resists- often violently, such as biting Peter’s penis when he rapes her. She flees and goes into police custody, from where she is taken in by Derek, a social worker. Soon after, she falls in love with Derek, but their affair is discovered by his wife, who alerts the authorities and Derek is arrested. Deprived of the only person she ever loved, Abigail is traumatized and commits suicide by jumping into a river.
The story’s theme revolves around child abuse and child prostitution, which describes much of Abigail’s life. For much of her childhood, Abigail is frequently abused sexually by male relatives, having lost her virginity to her cousin when she was ten years old. P...