Even When Your Voice Shakes

Summary

Amerley is the oldest of four girls living with their mother in a poor neighborhood in Accra. With growing debt and her mother bedridden with postpartum depression, Amerley is barely keeping her sisters clothed and fed. When Rosina Iddrissu, an old friend of her mother’s, shows up at their door with money and a job offer as her household help, Amerley feels she has no choice but to accept.

Amerley moves in with the Iddrissus in their wealthy Accra neighborhood and

slowly settles into a routine, befriending her coworkers and even one of the sons of the family, Zaed. But one night, while hanging out and drinking with Zaed and his menacing stepbrother, General, General rapes her—while Zaed watches. Feeling trapped and voiceless, Amerley sinks into herself, desperately trying to forget what was done to her even as General’s taunts and threats grow more and more violent. Torn between wanting to keep her job to provide for her family and speaking up for herself and for justice, Amerley must decide how to live her truth—and the impact of her choice will be felt through her entire community.

Riveting and keenly felt, Even When Your Voice Shakes is the story of one girl’s fight for justice and to be heard in a world determined to silence her power.