Adua is a tale of a father and daughter. It is a tale about colonialism, immigration, racism, and patriarchal relations and experiences. The book focuses on Adua who came to Italy from Somalia during the 1970s. It flashes between Adua in her present as she contemplates returning to Somalia and touches on the current migrant crisis in the Med. Her father and his time in Italy and Ethiopia, when he was a translator for the colonial regime before her birth. And finally, her youth when she came to live with her father in Magola and her ensuing movie career. I really enjoyed the alternating chapters but found Adua's narratives the most interesting and compelling of the book.

The novel is short, just under 200 pages but it feels a very intense read. Adua handles some heavy topics throughout as there is racial violence, female genital mutilation (FGM), sexual assault, racism, war and more. These topics are broken up across the novel and some more explicitly covered than others, but they weigh heavily on the narrative and the reader and for that reason this book is not to be taken lightly. However, it is an excellent exploration of power dynamics between individuals and how power is abused and used to control others. It explores the historical context through emotion and relations rather then straight up depictions of war and violence. It has a very clever narrative style.

I also really liked the various Somalian terms used throughout which had a glossary at the back to help readers understand what they mean. These served to strengthen the characters roots to their Somalian heritage and culture. In addition to this, there was a historical context section for readers at the back about Somalia's history and the colonial legacy of Italy. This was really helpful given the novel does not go into detail about specific historical events, it helps to round out the readers understanding.

Overall I thought Adua blossomed into a thought-provoking and compelling read despite it being not quite how I initially expected. I liked the style and approach Scego crafted and it made the experiences and history feel more real and emotional.