Aya: Life in Yop City

Brightly coloured, sharply written and with some very wry humour, this award-winning collection comprises the first three volumes of Abouet’s six-part series Aya of Yop City.

Aya is the 19-year-old oldest child in a large family living in working-class Abidjan in Côte d’Ivoire during the late 1970s. Her friends Adjoua and Bintu are easygoing, a refreshing counterpoint to her meddling relatives and the other members of the community she lives in. Together, they attempt to navigate the complexities of adulthood, as they try by turns to study, marry, and perhaps raise a family.

Loosely based on the experiences of the author, this colourful omnibus covers themes of family traditions, friendship, patriarchy and French colonisation, with some excellent observations thrown in.

Women In translation: Cote D'Ivoire, Translated from the French by Helge Dascher, graphic novel