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‘When The Moon
Caught Fire’ is a novel that takes on the challenging task of exploring
the pre-colonial slave era in the area presently known as Nigeria. The
story moves from the ancient Benin kingdom to the island of Lagos down
to Dahomey (now Benin Republic), Sierra Leone and Brazil. Spanning
three generations of different lineages that eventually intermingle in
spite of jealousy, war and hate, the story begins with Papa Efosa, a
Bini man, who has to go into exile with his wife and two daughters to
escape the wrath of the Oba of Benin, whom he conspired against.

He journeys to
Lagos and is welcomed by his Yoruba friend, Chief Oluyede. He soon
makes his home there. He is persuaded by Oluyede to participate in the
growing and profitable business of trading in slaves. He eventually
succumbs and ends up being more successful than his friend, who becomes
envious of his success.

There is strife in
the compound as Oluyede and his family make life unbearable for Papa
Efosa and his family out of envy and spite. Fate soon deals them a bad
hand and the family is separated. The story then shifts focus to
Itohan, Papa Efosa’s youngest daughter, and how she eventually finds
succour from all of her travails.

Itohan’s life is
like an intricate vase poised to shatter easily and, for that matter,
mirrors the existence of most of the key characters in this story. The
twins from Badagry–another town notorious for trading in slaves–Yemi
and Temi, each have their own tragic tales as they are unable to fight
to prevent the fate that befalls them.

They are two
beautiful young mulatto women, daughters of the mistress to a popular
white slave merchant. They mark the beginning of the next generation
that witnesses the end of the inhuman slave trade era, the furtive
ceding of Lagos to the British and the eventual introduction of
colonialism.

‘When The Moon
Caught Fire’ is remarkable in that the author is able to take a point
in history and bring it home such that, through the characters, we are
able to see the human angle. The author obviously did his research
extensively as historical facts are well acknowledged and incorporated
into the story.

His account of the
historical power tussle in Lagos between real historical characters,
Akitoye and Kosoko of Lagos, attests to this. Also, Afenfia’s portrayal
of the transatlantic slave trade enlightens and shocks the reader. Most
of the business was instigated by greedy Africans who saw nothing wrong
with betraying their fellow human beings.

The fate of women
in the midst of this story is also something worthy of note. Women are
often the victims of the whims of the men around them. They are at the
mercy of either the greedy father, brother or uncle, the lecherous
slave merchant or the community. Most of the women in the story
experience extreme tragedy which soon begins to look too contrived and
monotonous, making one wonder if it was really that way for women at
that time.

The story appears
too long and somewhat disjointed at certain points but length can be
justified. However in the case of this novel some rambling could have
been done away with.

Some of the lines read too simplistic and a lot more work could have
been done with the plot itself to make it more memorable. It’s also
exasperating to find minor errors of tenses that good editing could
have taken care of. In spite of these observations, Afenfia should be
commended for his historical fiction, an area that is in need of more
literary focus.