Review: The Attic Child by Lola Jaye

The Attic Child by Lola Jaye is the story of two children almost a century apart locked in the same attic of a grand English home and treated abominably by the adults charged with their care.

The dual narrative begins in 1903 with Dikembe's life as a young nine-year-old boy living with his family in the Congo. The youngest in the family, his parents protect him from the dangerous political climate but his life takes a dramatic turn when he is convinced to accompany a white explorer back to England as his companion. Dikembe is re-named Celestine and his journey and subsequent adjustment to life in white society is deeply disturbing and heart wrenching.

Dikembe is a very likeable and inspirational character and my heart ached for his losses, sometimes to the point of not wanting to return to his story. After the demise of his sponsor, young Celestine is received poorly by distant relatives, treated like a servant and locked in the attic for days on end.

We join Lowra in 1993, and as a child she was locked in the same attic by her wicked stepmother after her father vanished on their honeymoon. Now an adult and orphan, she inherits the house and returns to the centre of her childhood trauma, the attic. In researching the history of the house, Lowra comes across a photograph of Celestine and enlists the help of an historian to trace his story.

The Attic Child was heavy reading and we're not spared Celestine's suffering in the first person nor the trauma suffered by Lowra presented in first person flashbacks. I found myself wishing the author had shielded us from at least one character's confinement or perhaps dialled down the sheer distress and horror of their combined abuse.

Lowra's research uncovers dreadful colonialism and racism in England in the late 1800s and early 1900s and a deplorable chapter of atrocities in the Congo where I later learned ten to fifteen million African people were slaughtered between 1885 and 1908. The historian becomes a key character and we learn his own history and ongoing experience of racism. Together their research takes them closer to Celestine and I kept reading to find out where it would all lead.

The Attic Child by Lola Jaye shines a light into some very dark places and if I'd known just how heavy and helpless it was going to make me feel, I don't know that I'd have chosen to read it. Knowing the story was inspired by historical fact made it harder to read, and I'm ashamed to say I guess I prefer a more sanitised version of historical fiction that doesn't give me an aversion to picking up the book due to the sorrow it contains.

The ending was satisfying even though it felt a little far fetched and Jaye includes an excellent Author's Note at the end expounding on the inspiration for the book. For more, you can read an article by the author from 2022 here.

The Attic Child by Lola Jaye is recommended for fans of historical fiction who can handle the darker side of history and child abuse page after page and still maintain hope.

My Rating:

★ ★ ★ ★ ★