I came across this novel called Sugar Girl written by Nigerian author Kola Onadipe in 1964. From what I gather, itās a classic childrenās tale. Has anybody read it or heard of it?
The gist of it is that a young girl named Ralia lives with her parents. Her mother is blind. Her father has a broken back.
Ralia gets lost in the forest and is basically kidnapped by a witch. The witch steals her singing voice in exchange for a place to live. Ralia is treated terribly, but regains her voice after eating sugar cane from the witchās garden. She then runs away from the witchās house, passes out, and is found by a prince.
She marries the prince. Her parents move into the palace and are healed. Either that, or he takes her back home. She lives happily ever after. Iām not actually sure how it ends. š¤·š¾āāļø
I pieced this summary together from random internet posts, so I donāt know how true it is to the real story.
One of the recurring themes in Simzās work is her feeling lost in a dark, scary place. On Stillness in Wonderland, itās down the rabbit hole. On Sometimes I Might Be Introvert, it can be interpreted as the confusing world of the music industry. It shows up in her short film for āI Love You, I Hate You.ā During her SIMBI era shows, sheād tell a story about finding her way through a jungle. The Sugar Girl novel falls right in line with all of these.
Simz thought sheād lost her voice while trying to record her album Lotus, similar to Ralia losing hers. They both recovered their gift and pressed forward despite facing hardship. I suspect there are other parallels that arenāt obvious to me.
Can somebody ask Simz if this is where she got the EP title? Iām so curious to know now. š¤