Before the Daughter was born into this world, her fate had already been decided. Her Earth mother, in a desperate attempt to secure eternal life for herself and her town, made a deal with the devil. But the devil's spawn, a demon daughter, was not what she expected. And now, it's up to the Daughter, a warrior with the blood of a West African prince running through her veins, to stop the darkness from consuming the universe.
Set in the small town of Baldwin, Alabama in the early 1900s, this adventure takes us on a journey through time and space. From the powerful empires of Mali and Songhai to the horrors of the transatlantic slave trade, the Daughter must navigate through treacherous waters to fulfill her destiny.
But she is not alone. With the help of Emmanuel Janssen, the town’s wealthy African patriarch, and the guidance of Semperian, the universal protector, the Daughter must face the most diabolical force of all: Apollyon Diabolus Fallen 17. But can she defeat this powerful entity before it's too late? And what will happen when the demon daughter is finally born?
For fans of epic fantasy and magical realism, "Wrong Daughter: Night of the Blood Moon," is a must-read. It weaves together elements of history, mythology, and supernatural forces to create a gripping and emotional story. If you enjoyed books like "American Gods" by Neil Gaiman or "Children of Blood and Bone" by Tomi Adeyemi, then you'll love this book.
Don't wait any longer, purchase your copy today and join the battle against darkness. Available in hardcover, paperback, and e-book formats.
Shakhete’s sense of history and the sacredness of Africa powers this literary fantasy, as the story digs into the dawn of the slave trade, the founding of Baldwin, and how key “Towners,” facing a smallpox epidemic in the 17th century, forged a vicious Blood Covenant involving sacrifices every 17 years, leading to “increased hell on Earth in the coming centuries.” The material is heady and at times demanding, as twin daughters, one embodying good and the other evil, clash from the moment of conception until the fateful solstice blood moon of 1925, when only one can emerge victorious, either releasing or destroying the tortured soul of the prince.
The novel pulses with pained and mythic imagery like the Hanging Tree (where Baldwin’s residents celebrated “the first African hung in early Alabama”), and there’s aching power in its central metaphor of Towners achieving immortality from “the blood of slain and deceased Africans.” For all the invented history and spiritual elements, including journeys into dark realms and appearances from Lucifer and Satan (or Satana), the narrative moves briskly, at least after some heady introductory material. Earthly scenes edge toward the unsettling–with blood and wombs, snakes and spirits and creatures like a clondike–or the hopeful, as Shakhete powerfully emphasizes love, community, and ancestral memory.
Takeaway: Literary fantasy of African myth, blood, and the secret history of an Alabama town.
Comparable Titles: Amos Tutola’s My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, Tomi Adeyemi’s Children of Blood and Bone.
Production grades
Cover: A-
Design and typography: A-
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: B+
Marketing copy: A-
Wrong Daughter was filled with plots and twists that had me saying, “Wow!” A suspenseful read that will have you turning the pages to see what will happen next. I took the book to read on my December cruise and I’m glad that I did because we had a couple of sea days that were best for curling up with a good book. The story was very thought proving and had me taking time to stop a while to allow my imagination to run its course at the time and place of the happenings. Amani Shakhete is a storyteller who knows how to weave amazing detail about the lives of her characters and places. I won’t give any spoilers but just want to say read the book. It will keep you enthralled and at times mesmerized.
