Acolo unde femeile sunt regi

Elijah is seven and faces adoption. He tries to make sense of his past. He was born in England to a Nigerian mother. He blames his troubled acts on a wizard inside him. He loves Deborah, his birth mother, and Nikki, his adoptive mother. Social workers find that abuse has harmed his body and mind. He seeks peace with his new family. Yet he still needs proof that Deborah loves him. His search brings grave loss.

Christie Watson's novel looks at what it means to be a mother. It explores family ties and the costs of caring for others. Sights, smells, and other senses bring Nigeria to life. Clashes over faith, race, and class shape the story. Humor runs through the pain. This work of modern fiction explores the deep harm of childhood abuse. It also asks what makes a family. This book is a translation of Where Women Are Kings. It forms part of the Fiction Connection series.

Watson is a British writer born in Stevenage in 1976. She left school at sixteen. She then spent a year doing unpaid work with Scope. She became a nurse and cared for children for years. Later, she combined nursing with writing. A Malcolm Bradbury scholarship helped fund her studies. She studied creative writing at the University of East Anglia. Her first novel won the Costa First Novel Award in 2011. She also led a creative writing program at St Mary's University. She lives in London with her children.