Bolu Babalola: Honey and Spice

The Cheeky Natives

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Honey& Spice is a sweet, evocative and humorous coming of age debut novel from Bolu Babalola. We first encountered Bolu in the short story collection “Love in Colour.”
In her debut novel set in a PWI in the UK, we are introduced to a cast of characters so relatable that you will find yourself or your friends in at least one of these individuals.
The protagonist, Kiki is a seemingly self-controlled and focused young woman who is adept at playing the romance long game and seems to be content with the fleeting nature of these modern day dating interactions. This continues until the introduction of a new student, Malakai who is incredibly good-looking, intelligent and lovely. On paper, this combination is perfect, however the reality of life dictates that the seas of love are not smooth sailing at all.
There a series of events where we witness Kiki and Malakai fake date and pass through the enemies to lover pipeline with a few complications in between.
As the book unfolds, the themes of friendship, kinship and family come to the fore. We watch the characters navigate the realities of past romantic traumas, the veneer of unavailability and parental disappointments as best as they are equipped to.
Bolu’s characters ask us to think widely of love and friendship in the contexts of youth and self -discovery; what does it mean to find love in broken places and people. On first look, this is a fun, coming of age story set in a British university but a deeper inspection reveals a contemplation on trauma, familial influence and chosen family.
We sat with Bolu Babalola to discuss these themes and ideas in this engaging conversation

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