This stunning story of survival is about the life of Gershon Ogbuluijah, a man whose thunderous last name belies his gentle, unassuming frame. It is a captivating account of the autobiographer’s childhood and coming of age in an era when society was far more close-knit and virtues such as industry, honesty, and good neighbourliness were celebrated.

In telling his life story, this man from the oil-rich Ataba Kingdom in Nigeria’s Rivers State does not hold back on the details of his difficult childhood, set against the backdrop of the silent sorrows of his deprived, neglected, long-suffering mother and grandmother. He also tells of his childhood pranks and of the general subjugation that women had to endure in his mother’s day.