A British-Nigerian author who has penned her first ever novel documenting the life of a singleton in London has been hailed as the next Bridget Jones.
Lizzie Damilola Blackburn, 32, from Peckham, wrote Yinka, Where Is Your Huzband? which follows a single 31-year-old who sets herself a deadline of finding herself a plus one for her cousin’s wedding in six months’ time.
The plot follows the ups and downs of her dating life, complicated by the fact she is always a little behind her friends and doesn’t believe in sex before marriage.
Critics have been comparing the new romance novel to the next Bridget Jones’s, with Emily Henry, author of You and Me on Vacation, saying: ‘Yinka, Where Is Your Huzband? is the spiritual heir to Bridget Jones’s Diary, while bringing something entirely fresh and modern to the table.’
Meanwhile, Irish Examiner called it ‘a romcom ‘where Cinderella is Black and no-one bats an eyelid.”
And Sarah Morgan, author of The Christmas Escape, said: ‘Hilarious and heartfelt. Yinka is an unforgettable heroine.’
The novel begins with Oxford graduate Yinka Oladeji revealing she is up for promotion at the investment bank where she works.
However she is publicly humiliated by her mother and aunties at her sister’s baby show, who send up ‘the prayer of the century’ that she will find a ‘huzband.’
Lizzie penned how Yinka’s aunty Kemi loudly prayed for her in front of the group, saying: ‘“In the same way you brought Kemi a huzband, Lord, bring Yinka a huzband of her own. Don’t delay your blessing. Bring him this year.” (DailyMail)