No Sweetness Here and Other Stories

This collection of short stories sees Ama Ata Aidoo, one of Africa's leading feminist and postcolonial writers, exercise the powerful effect of oral storytelling in her moving tales of shifting identities and the paradoxes of womanhood.
'There is no use in screaming about how independent you are by driving away the colonialists if you do not make independence meaningful.'
Written with vibrant candour and tenacity, No Sweetness Here tackles the challenges of postcolonial Ghana, with topics ranging from the politics of wigs to the fragile joy of maternity.
In this collection, tradition struggles against modernisation, convention against liberation and all the while, Aidoo invites the reader to confront life's injustices with her characteristic humour and poise.
'Even at her gravest, Aidoo writes with a sunny charm.' New York Times
'Beautifully written.' English Magazine
'A subtle criticism that cuts as sharply as a razor. There is not a single dull story in the eleven.' Daily Nation