Ada’s Realm - Sharon Dodua Otoo translated from the German by Jon Cho-Polizzi

This could be a Marmite book for many. It’s quite extraordinary and defies comparison. Fleetingly I thought of David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas with its interlocking lives and different time frames, and Virginia Woolf’s Orlando, but not for long. With a fluid narrative that meanders through the labyrinth of our imaginations Sharon Dodua Otoo has created a character who transcends convention - Ada -who lives through the Orbits, as the sections in the novel are named. And the orbits join together like the links in the bracelet that cements the different periods of time together.

The book challenges the margins and protocols of literary language, structure and characterisation. In one sense it’s mind blowing. Ada is many women but in a way she is every woman. As she navigates the centuries she offers the reader a view of womens’ place through time. And yet it doesn’t present as an overtly feminist novel. It examines womanhood overall, in different cultures, through different times. The author does so with vivacity and humour. It’s refreshingly original. As a reader I had the sense of being bounced about, back-and-forth in time, accompanying this woman, who is both strong and determined yet also, a casualty of history’s attitude to women. We know that Ada is an African woman, that is made clear from the opening orbits in Totope but I felt the character transcended culture and race to represent all females. For those with a fundamental belief in reincarnation, and previous lives, this will be a fascinating read. A degree of spirituality is inherent in much of the narrative as seemingly inanimate objects take on personality and enjoy conversations with God, even! 

All the Adas have individual characteristics, yet they converge as a whole woman ultimately throughout the fragmentation of time.

All of the various narratives link seamlessly offering a cohesion that I feel to be vital for such a daring book. The translation by Jon Cho-Polizzi is sublime, flawless even. I don’t feel he’s lost any of the original flavour of the German text. In fact, when you’re reading you lose sight of the fact that it’s a work in translation. That isn’t always the case.

I’ve a feeling this book will either take the world by storm for its ambition and originality or it will sink without trace.

I fervently hope it is the former. I would like to see it hit the awards long lists, at the very least.

My thanks to Corinna Zifko at MacLehose Press for my beautiful gifted finished copy.