« Article 77 bis of the Criminal Code, Obalisi Zebke interrupts. Husbands have the right to « use physical means to punish their wives, so long as these means do not lead to serious corporal damage, which are described as loss of sight, audition or speech, disfigurement or injuries which could lead to death. »***
My first book read this year for the Readers Prize at the Quai du Polar in Lyon. Marin Ledun, after his last book, a pamphlet against the tobacco industry, lobbying leading to serious crime and political corruption, To Hell with their Souls, this year he attacks Political and police corruption around the beer industry and the widespread use of prostitution powering sales. Seems unlikely? Then read on.
His story follows two separate investigations, the first by a French female journalist tracing back to the roots the smuggling rings putting underaged Nigerian prostitutes onto the streets of Europe and the second by A Nigerian traffic cop taking an interest, where no one else will into the deaths of two young Nigerian women found naked in a large bin by the roadside. The book is almost entirely set in Nigerian and the Free Queens in the title is one of several organisations fighting for women’s rights in country where the Criminal Code written by men is ends shivers down your spine, see the opening quote.
At one point early in the book, the police shoot at point blank range without warning one of the leaders of a network that provide young girls to the prostitution groups as he is choosing them from a row of scared girls, mostly sent by their families, in order to take control of his business and then the whole thing is presented to the public as a police success::
« The corrupt cow-boys parade, corrupt journalists from The Premium Times serve up their actions as heroic, the pigs fight amongst themselves to split the new territory. And the victims, in all this, who really cares? « ***
The beer industry at the heart of the story uses the girls in every bar to bring the drinks to the customers, The link between the politicians, the owners of the industry and the prostitution used to market the beer cannot be allowed to be made and in that the girls choices often pushed by their families, are between prostitution in Nigerian or in Europe.
The story is set during COVID and the violence of the lockdowns in such a poor country. How does the beer industry manage to sell beer in the Muslim North, how can it make prostitution work there, can corruption work there? Of course.
Another good read from Marin Ledun.
First Published in French as Free Queens by Gallimard in 2023.
*** my translation
The quotes as read in French before translation
— Article 77 bis du Code criminel, l’interrompit Olabisi Zenke. Les maris ont le droit d’ »utiser les moyens physiques pour punir leur épouse, pourvu que cela ne donne pas lieu à des lésions corporelles graves, lesquelles sont décrites comme la perte de vue, de l’audition ou de la parole, la défiguration ou des blessures pouvant entraîner la mort ».
«Les cow-boys corrompus paradent, les journalistes corrompus du Premium Times leur servent la soupe, les porcs se battent entre eux pour se partager le nouveau territoire. Et les victimes, dans tout ça, qui s’en soucie vraiment?»
South of Paris books 