Oyinkan Braithwaite’s 2025 novel, Cursed Daughters, is a work of magical realism and a multi-generational family saga. The story follows the women of the Falodun family, who believe they are afflicted by a generational curse that dooms them to suffer for the sake of men. The narrative focuses on Eniiyi, a young woman who returns to her family home in Nigeria only to find herself living in the shadow of her deceased aunt, Monife. When her family becomes convinced that she is Monife’s reincarnation, Eniiyi must fight against the echoes of the past to assert her own identity. The novel explores The Self-Fulfilling Nature of Negative Beliefs, The Struggle for Independent Selfhood Within Families, and Redefining Female Agency in a Patriarchal Society.

Cursed Daughters is the second novel by the acclaimed Nigerian British author Oyinkan Braithwaite, following her internationally bestselling debut, My Sister, the Serial Killer (2018). That novel was longlisted for the Booker Prize, shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction, and won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Mystery/Thriller. In Cursed Daughters, Braithwaite has blended suspense with social commentary to create a novel that is deeply rooted in Yoruba cosmology and treats concepts like curses sealed by blood and reincarnation (àtúnwá) as tangible spiritual forces that shape the characters’ reality. To this end, Braithwaite employs magical realism, a literary mode that integrates supernatural elements into everyday life, in order to examine abstract concepts like generational trauma and fate.

This guide refers to the 2025 Doubleday hardcover edition.

Content Warning: The source material and this guide contain depictions of death by suicide, pregnancy loss or termination, substance use, physical abuse, emotional abuse, illness or death, and cursing.

Plot Summary

The narrative begins in the year 2000 as a heavily pregnant Ebun attends her cousin Monife’s funeral at Ikoyi Cemetery, accompanied by her mother, Kemi. Later, at the Falodun family home, Ebun discovers that Monife’s mother, Aunty Bunmi, has removed all photographs of her daughter. Kemi explains that a mamalawo (traditional priestess) named Mama G advised doing this to prevent Monife’s spirit from lingering. Enraged, Ebun confronts her aunt and the other women. During the argument, her water breaks five weeks early.

At the hospital, Ebun gives birth to a daughter, and as she holds the baby, she is struck by a joy so intense it feels like grief; the baby’s eyes also haunt her with a sense of familiarity. That night, she has a vivid dream of Monife’s spirit visiting and holding the infant, letting a single drop of water fall on the baby’s forehead. When she wakes, she finds a small pool of water on the floor.

A flashback reveals Ebun’s lonely childhood, which changed when Aunty Bunmi and her children, 15-year-old Monife and 16-year-old Tolu, moved from England and settled into the Falodun house. Monife became a loving older sister to Ebun, though she experienced severe bouts of depression. It was Monife who told Ebun about the family curse, which originated with their ancestor, Feranmi Falodun. As the story goes, after Feranmi seduced a married man and was taken as his second wife, the man’s first wife cursed her and all her female descendants to suffer for the sake of men.

Back in the present, Aunty Bunmi visits the hospital and is stunned by the newborn’s resemblance to her late daughter, declaring her a reincarnation. At the naming ceremony, Aunty Bunmi names the baby “Motitunde”, meaning “I have come again” (29), and Kemi names her “Abidemi,” which means a girl born in her father’s absence. Ebun gives her the name she has chosen: “Eniiyi.”

The story shifts to 1994. Monife, a university student, comes home to find her mother performing a ritual from Mama G to win back her estranged husband. Monife and a teenage Ebun later confront Mama G in her shantytown shack but fail to get a refund. On the way home, Monife impulsively buys a puppy and names him Sango. Despite her mother’s demand that she get rid of the puppy, Monife insists on keeping him. Soon after, while at a football match with her boyfriend and family, Monife is captivated by a handsome, light-skinned player named Kalu. A friend tells her that Kalu is a “golden boy” who is known for his talent and good character. At a house party, Monife shows romantic interest in Kalu despite having a boyfriend, and they share a passionate kiss. She breaks up with her boyfriend the next day, and she and Kalu begin dating.

In the present-day narrative thread of 2024, a 23-year-old Eniiyi returns to the Falodun home after completing her master’s degree. She is greeted by her mother, Ebun; the now-ancient dog, Sango; and her grandmother, Kemi, who now goes by the name “Grandma East.” When her grand-aunt Bunmi, or Grandma West, mistakes her for Monife, Eniiyi learns that the woman has dementia. Upset, Eniiyi meets her friend Funsho at a bar and later has a recurring dream of Monife standing by the ocean.

As Eniiyi settles back into life at home, Grandma West’s confusion intensifies. When Eniiyi says she is going swimming, Grandma West has a panic attack and screams that “Monife” must not go near the water. Eniiyi then goes to Elegushi beach, where she rescues a young man named Zubby from drowning. That night, she dreams of a crying Monife, who speaks in Eniiyi’s voice, saying, “Not again.”

A flashback to 2000-2006 details Eniiyi’s childhood. As Eniiyi grows, her resemblance to Monife becomes even stronger. She begins sleepwalking and always ends up under the large iroko tree in the courtyard.

The narrative shifts to 1994-1995. At this point, Monife and Kalu are deeply in love. Before he leaves for a course in the UK, she buries his handkerchief under the iroko tree as a charm against the family curse. When he returns, he gives her an ankle bracelet, they profess their love, and he asks her to meet his mother. The meeting with Mrs. Kenosi is a disaster; she cruelly insults Monife’s family, academic record, and dark skin. Mrs. Kenosi then begins trying to set up a match between Kalu and Amara, the daughter of a family friend. Feeling desperate, Monife gets a love charm from Mama G, a powder that she puts in Kalu’s drink.

In 2024, Eniiyi meets Zubby at a club, and they begin a passionate relationship. Grandma West makes a cryptic comment in which she says, “That boy will hurt you” (203), but Eniiyi is unsure whether Grandma West is talking to her or to Monife.  Eniiyi asks her Uncle Tolu what happened that day on the beach when Monife died. Tolu reveals that it wasn’t an accident, and that Eniiyi should go to Ebun to learn more.

In another flashback to 2006-2012, six-year-old Eniiyi nearly drowns at a party, and a terrified Ebun forces Eniiyi into harsh swimming lessons. Later, when Ebun finds 12-year-old Eniiyi wearing Monife’s clothes and embracing the reincarnation theory, she beats the girl violently. To escape the toxic environment, Eniiyi asks to go to boarding school. Ebun cuts off her daughter’s long hair, a symbolic act of letting her go.

The story returns to 1996. Kalu discovers a sanitary pad with his name pinned to it (part of Mama G’s charm), and breaks up with Monife. Within eight months, he has married Amara.

In the present, Eniiyi’s relationship with Zubby grows serious. To create a distinction between herself and Monife, she gets a tattoo. Eniiyi brings Zubby to the Falodun home to introduce him to her mother. Ebun takes one look at Zubby and, shocked, drops the tray of tea she is carrying. Ebun tells Zubby to leave and forbids Eniiyi from seeing him again, saying only that his family “are not good people” (272).

In 2000, three years after Monife and Kalu break up, they meet and begin an affair. Soon after, Monife discovers she is pregnant. Kalu’s mother and Amara confront Monife, demanding that she terminate the pregnancy. Ebun, who is also secretly pregnant, defends her. Later, Ebun suggests they both terminate their pregnancies and obtains illicit pills. Monife takes the pill and miscarries. Two months later, she realizes Ebun never took the pill and is still pregnant. Devastated by this betrayal and by Kalu’s rejection, Monife goes to Elegushi beach and walks into the water, dying by suicide.

In 2025, Eniiyi continues to see Zubby and goes to meet Zubby’s parents, where she discovers that his father is Kalu and his mother is Amara. Kalu mistakes her for Monife, and Amara violently attacks her. Soon after, Grandma West dies. During the mourning period, Osagie sees Eniiyi’s birthmark and recognizes it as vitiligo, a genetic condition that he also has. He confronts Ebun and learns that he is Eniiyi’s father; Ebun admits that she hid the pregnancy to protect Eniiyi from the curse of abandonment. Feeling that her love for Zubby is a manipulation by Monife’s spirit, Eniiyi sleeps with Funsho and breaks up with Zubby.

Kalu visits the Falodun home to apologize. Tolu reveals the truth: that Ebun had convinced Monife to terminate her pregnancy but then backed out herself. Furthermore, Tolu deleted a message from Kalu on the answering machine in which Kalu said he was sorry and wanted their child, a message Monife never heard. Eniiyi gives Kalu a tin of his belongings that Monife had buried under the iroko tree. She accepts a job in the UK and leaves Nigeria. The narrative notes that after she leaves, Sango dies, and Oba proposes to Ebun, who accepts and moves out with Kemi, leaving the Falodun house to its ghosts.

In a symbolic Epilogue, Monife’s spirit is depicted wrestling with and finally defeating the family curse in the ocean. Eniiyi flies toward her new future as the sole owner of her body and destiny. A final note reveals that seven years later, she will walk into a restaurant in Lagos and lock eyes with Zubby once more.