I own so many books that I haven't read that I've stopped taking advantage of the ARCs from NetGalley, to try to catch up on what I already have. However, I loved My Sister the Serial Killer so much that I immediately downloaded this ARC, and was thrilled to find this book even better.

It follows a family over two generations, who are torn between folklore and modern sensibility, their love for one another and frustration with their actions. The interweaving passages across time reveal the sometimes parallell lives of aunt and niece. The characters, setting and somewhat supernatural aspects bring to life a stunning story that, at the end, reduced me to tears. I highly recommend.

This sights, sounds and smells of Lagos, Nigeria are quickly established in this new novel by Oyinkan Braithwaite who also wrote the excellent 'My Sister the Serial Killer'. The personalities and, importantly, the looks, of the main characters, three generations of the women of the Falodun family, are also set up at the start so that it is easy for the reader to follow the time shifts and key character shifts in the narrative. The women of the family have for generations believed that they are victims of a curse put on one of their ancestors that they would never be able to keep a man. The two older sisters in this tale still believe this curse and fight it in their own ways, one by invoking 'juju' and one by getting as much as she can from as many men as possible. Their daughters, Monife and Ebun, are more sceptical although some life events do lead them to consider the curse may have some truth to it. However the main contemporary character is the third generation Eniiyi who has had to fight not only the family history of the curse but also the belief by her great aunt that she is in fact the reincarnation of her dead aunt Monife..
There are many family secrets here which by the end are all out in the open. There is sadness, anger and despair but in the end a feeling of hopefulness. I read this book very quickly. The narrative flows really well and I wanted to know how things would turn out for Eniiyi particularly. I recommend this novel to readers who enjoy a well crafted, interesting novel with strong female characters, well described setting and an interesting plot.
My thanks to the publisher Atlantic Books for providing an ARC of this book via Net Galley.

Cursed Daughters is nimble, layered, and quietly devastating—a novel that lets its strangeness and sadness accumulate gently, like dust you only notice when the light hits a certain way. It’s ostensibly about a curse passed through generations of women—“No man will ever call your house his home”—but it’s also about the subtler, more insidious inheritances: grief left unresolved, rituals carried out half-believing, and the ache of never quite belonging even to your own story.

Eniiyi, born the day her aunt Mo dies, grows up in the long shadow of family myth, considered not quite herself but not quite someone else either. The novel follows her, and the women around her—mothers, aunts, cousins—as they all negotiate the line between superstition and survival. There’s a weight to the prose that never turns heavy; Braithwaite writes with elegant economy, each scene cleanly cut but rich with implication. The humour is wry and bone-dry, never at the expense of the characters’ inner lives, and there are frequent moments where the absurd gives way to genuine heartbreak.

There’s also a wonderful tension between the characters’ desire to break away from inherited beliefs and the fear that, maybe, there’s something to them after all. The sea – vivid, shifting, never quite safe – mirrors that ambiguity: familiar and unknowable at once.

I really loved the way the book deals with the curse—not as a spectacle, but as something that tightens the margins of everyday life. It’s as much about the weight of other people’s expectations as it is about fate. That tension builds beautifully and left me unsettled in the best way.

Funny, quietly furious, and beautifully observed, Cursed Daughters more than lives up to its promise.

A strange, hauntingly beautiful book. I read this in one sitting, I couldn’t put it down.

Oyinkan Braithwaite weaves a sad, albeit addictive, tale of generational trauma and self fulfilling prophecies with a hint of magical realism that I feel leaves the book open to multiple interpretations by the reader. The characters are so human, with their flaws and complexities laid bare. Just stunning.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Atlantic books for the ARC!

A captivating read about intergenerational trauma and how the curse at the root of it is still being battled against today. With a cast of strong female characters, the men become innocent casualties and one can’t help but grieve for them as well. Set against a vividly depicted Nigerian background, the story is strong, often dark, and truly difficult to put down.

I was so excited to read Braithwaite's next book and I was not disappointed! An engaging multi generational story that had me hooked from the very start. The small hints of the supernatural were a unique addition and adds a unique slant on tragic love stories. Full of interesting, strong and colourful characters, but quite dark at times.

I've been waiting for another book by Oyinkan Braithwaite in what feels like forever. I loved My Sister the Serial Killer and have been keeping an eye out for a second book by her so, as soon as I was approved to download this I stopped reading my other books and bumped this up to the top of the list.

Safe to say, I devoured this one. Cursed Daughters is incredible. It's tragic and devastating, yet still has Braithwaite's signature dark humour and cast of strong female characters. It's a story about intergenerational trauma, cursed loved and fighting to be seen/heard. I don't want to say too much without giving it away (although it isn't necessarily the type of book where you'd have 'spoilers') but I will say the wait was worth it. I was genuinely surprised by how haunting and touching this was.

This is easily one of the top 5 books I've read this year!

I loved My Sister The Serial Killer and so when I got the opportunity to read Cursed Daughters I jumped at it.

Yes they are by the same author but that’s where the similarities end. Where Serial Killer was bright and funny, Daughters is very melancholy, mystical but ultimately about hope.

Set in Lagos, it tells the story of a family of women that believe they have had a family curse handed down through generations - that they will never be able to hold on to a man and no matter how much they think they are in love, their relationships are destined to fail.

And now it’s the turn of Eniiyi, who due to her remarkable resemblance to her dead aunt Monife, has lived her whole life with her families strange and ancient beliefs as well as them believing she is the reincarnation of Monife.

When Eniiyi saves a man from drowning and finds herself falling in love with him, can she break the supposed family curse of is she pre destined to fail?

This one took a while to get going as I got to grips with what was going on but once I did I was totally sucked in to these women’s lives, their beliefs and eventually their secrets.
Told from multiple points of view in different time lines, it’s straight fiction really with a sprinkling of supernatural.

The further I got into the book, the more I enjoyed it. Just as you think you have a grip on the story something else is revealed that just keeps adding layers to the story.

It’s hard to pin point the overall tone of the book. Melancholy is my best effort at describing it but I’m not even sure that sums it up as it’s also about hope, secrets and the human condition.

A stunning read. Posssibly my book of the year so far.

Thanks to the publisher for the ARC through Netgalley.

I really enjoyed “My Sister the Serial Killer” and this was even better. Set in Lagos, the curse is a compelling idea: Is this a self-fulfilling prophecy? Or a metaphor for intergenerational trauma?Whatever the subtext, this is an utterly engaging story about four women that I found hard to put down.

Author Oyinkan Braithwaite explores family bonds, fate and determinism, as well as society’s obsession with marriage, love and relationships with the conferred status it lends. The curse, like so many fairy tale or biblical curses is bestowed on a woman who is judged to be over- reaching her status in life but how to shift this judgement? And how to be yourself amidst family expectations? Hugely atmospheric and immersive, this is a must read.

Like a lot of other readers, I couldn’t wait to read this book because I loved My Sister the Serial Killer and it did not disappoint.

This novel explores is a multigenerational tale of the Falodan family, the women believe that there has been a curse put on all of the daughters making them destined to never know true love with a man and will instead only know tragedy and heartbreak.
The story begins when Ebun gives birth to Eniiyi, on the same day she has buried her beloved cousin Monife. As she grows up, Eniiyi is followed by the feeling that she could be the reincarnation of her aunt, and plagued by the superstitions that can’t seem to escape her family.

We gradually come to know what happened to Monife and by the end of the novel I was completely absorbed with this family’s history and the twists and turns.

This is a book about love, family bonds, superstition and growth and I cannot recommend this book enough!!

I enjoyed “My Sister the Serial Killer” but I adored this! It’s a compelling idea and well executed with a nice amount of ambiguity on the supernatural elements in the novel which I love in fiction. It explored big themes like family, sisterhood, fate and determinism, as well as (I believe) thinking about the larger picture of women’s obsession with love and relationships and men, and the status it lends them in the world, with a focus on Nigeria. Overall though it was just entertaining and I read it in one day!

“She shed tears for herself, the girl who spent her entire life trying not to be a ghost”

This book gave me the chills! It was mysterious, emotional, and written with so much depth and cultural knowledge. We follow the story of a family of women and the curse placed upon them, and the actions they take to prevent it from taking hold and the ways they fell prey to it. Braithwaite uses her cultural background and folklore to give the readers a deeper understanding of ways generational trauma can impact individuals, families and the way they interact with each other and the world. It brings the story alive and makes for a very engaging read.

Mo, Eniyii, and Ebun (as well as Grandma West and East) are all strong female characters, well developed, and they each make the story what it is. Their relationships are so intertwined, complex, and tragic, but it always comes back to the love they hold for each other. Whether that be between mother and daughter or cousins.

This story had so many twists, so I would recommend it to those who enjoy a mystery. But more importantly, it opens up the question of predestined fates. Are we in control of the lives we live? Do we have a choice in the things that happen to us, or are we simply following a path that has been laid down before us? Overall, it was a great book, and I’ll be thinking about it forever!

“You have to let me move on now. But either way, I’m done being your vessel.”

A beautifully written tale of ancient superstition passed down to generations. The family of Falodun have been plagued by a curse cast by a wife of a man who had a secret family. The curse is that every daughter born in the future will lose their men, they will be like water in thier palms. They will not know love.

The story opens at the funeral of Monife. During the wake her pregnant cousin Ebun goes into early labour, brought on by the fact that all photographs of Mo have been removed, as if she never existed.

She gives birth to a daughter who is the image of her aunt Mo. That’s where the story begins. Is Eniiyi the reincarnation of Mo or is this just superstition based on a mother’s grief. The novel plays with the idea of spells being cast (Ju Ju ) which don’t seem to work and are seen as a money-making scheme by MamaG. However, this plays a central part as the women in the family try to break the curse and keep their partners and this is the real tragedy as they end up missing out on those who are truly in love with them.

I absolutely adore Braithwaite’s writing style. Through her vivid description of the household and characters one gets a real sense of Lagos and the plight of the young women who are convinced that their destiny is already mapped out for them.

Looking forward to more from this writer. Thank you NetGalley and ARC for the opportunity to read this ahead of publication.

I immediately requested an ARC of Oyinkan Braithwaite’s new novel as I loved her previous novel ‘My Sister, The Serial Killer’ so much. I was not disappointed. Whilst each work is completely different in storyline and tone, Braithwaite continues to be a brilliantly original writer and I love her style of writing. In this story, set in Nigeria, there is a supposed curse on the women of the family that prevents them from having long-term love with a man. Eniiyi grows up under the shadow of this curse and the fact that she is the doppelgänger of her aunt that died just before she was born. The story explores the impact of the curse through Eniiyi, her aunt Mo and her mother Ebun. I absolutely loved it - it will be one of my standout reads for 2025 without a doubt!

I read *My Sister the Serial Killer* when it first came out, and it’s one of those books I still think about because of its originality, sharp humour, and unforgettable characters. So when I saw that Oyinkan Braithwaite had a new novel coming, I was more than excited. *Cursed Daughters* is very different in tone and scope, but it proves again what an exceptional writer she is.

The story follows the women of the Falodun family, who live under a generational curse: “they will pursue men, but the men will be like water in their palms.” From the very first pages, there’s a sense of inevitability and foreboding, but Braithwaite uses this curse not just as a plot device but as a way to explore deeper themes—how family stories shape us, how superstition and belief can become self-fulfilling, and how women try to reclaim agency even when the odds feel stacked against them.

The three central characters—Eniiyi, her mother Ebun, and her cousin Monife—are drawn with so much depth. Each woman’s relationship to love, family, and identity is complicated and painful in its own way, and yet there’s always a thread of resilience. I found myself especially moved by the parallels between Monife’s tragic story and Eniiyi’s struggle to carve out a future that doesn’t repeat the past. Their lives are entangled across generations, and Braithwaite makes that entanglement both heartbreaking and compelling.

The Lagos setting adds so much vibrancy—its music, food, and daily rhythms, alongside the more spiritual and folkloric elements that feel inseparable from the characters’ lives. The writing is layered and immersive, balancing realism with an almost gothic undercurrent. There are moments of suspense, moments of tenderness, and moments where I had to pause to sit with the weight of what was happening.

What I admire most is how different this feels from *My Sister the Serial Killer*, while still carrying Braithwaite’s unmistakable voice. It’s less biting comedy and more haunting family saga, but just as impactful. She refuses to be boxed into a single style or genre, and instead delivers something bold and memorable.

By the end, I felt like I had been told not just a story about three women, but about fate, free will, and what it means to inherit both love and pain from those who came before. It’s a novel that lingers and makes you think about the stories your own family carries.

This will be one of my standout reads of 2025, and I can’t wait to see what Braithwaite writes next.

With thanks to Atlantic Books and NetGalley for the ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atlantic Books for the digital ARC.


I absolutely devoured this transgenerational story of drama, superstition, and the kind of family secrets that linger like shadows. The Falodun women have long lived under the weight of a supposed curse: “No man will call your house his home. And if they try, they will not have peace…”
Ebun gives birth to her daughter Eniiyi on the same day her cousin Monife dies, and because Eniiyi is her spitting image, the family insists she is Monife reborn—binding her life to a legacy of sorrow and complicated love.

What I loved most was how every single character was deeply flawed in ways that were both maddening and believable. The non-linear storytelling gave the book a dreamlike quality. The reader is required to piece together memory, myth, and truth all at once. While the ending wasn’t what I expected, it still landed as a deeply satisfying conclusion, tying together generations of pain and resilience in a way that felt earned.

Oyinkan Braithwaite has created something that lingers—an exploration of inheritance, love, and the blurry line between curses and choices. I loved every dramatic, haunting moment.

An exceptional novel, very different to her first, but no less brilliant.
An inter-generational story of strong and feisty females who are affected by the ancestral curse that no females in the family line will have a love that lasts. Set in Lagos, this superb dual timeline novel is immersed in superstition and familial devotion.

An absolute cracker.

My thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley. This review was written voluntarily and is entirely my own unbiased opinion.

wahay what a read. completely held me tight from start to finish. how good was this book! this book was stunning. what a writer Oyinkan is, what a talent. i new as soon as i open and read those very first lines and pages that this was going to grab me. i new soon after this book was going to hit me hard and be a good, straight on my faves list of books kind of book. and i was right and then some.
this book follows a family of cursed woman. and this curse runs so deep amongst this family its like a constant, the effects running wild through this family. and then what happens when we come to one woman whos growing and finding herself growing feelings. for this curse means these woman cannot become close to men. so of course what Eniiyi is now doing and feeling is a very bad idea. straight away i was conflicted. i know what happened to other woman in the family. i was there like nooooo don't fall Enniiyi, you'll get hurt. but also desperate for her to keep the belief, stay true and that the curse might be broken.
and Oyinkan takes us on one hell of a twisty, beautiful most wonderful journey where we are up and down with the characters. where we are tense and gripping the book tight. where we dont know where this will head but are desperate to know.
i love how the timelines mean we are constantly learning, constantly shifting and also kept more on our toes. you dont just think one thing, but as you read and learn you are kept questioning and wondering. but also you are never confused. you might have different perspectives and times but Oyinkan writes this book so we are swept along and easily following each part.
this book was just on point. it was clever, tight, strong and wonderful. i just felt this book through my entire body and soul. wow.
this book left me with so much thought. it weighed heavy with me after but in such a good way. and when i closed the last page i let out the best kind of book satisfied sigh.

Cursed Daughters by Oyinkan Braithwaite

Wow. I actually clapped when I finished this book — that’s how good it was. Cursed Daughters is a stunning, beautifully written story that left me speechless in the best way.

The novel follows three women — Eniiyi, Monife, and Ebun — who are bound by a generational curse that stems from the sins of an ancestor who once destroyed a happy home. This curse haunts their family across time, shaping lives in painful, scandalous, and heartbreaking ways. At its core, this is a tale of inheritance, not just of blood but of trauma, silence, and unresolved wrongs.

Braithwaite does such an incredible job of weaving together folklore, family drama, and deeply human emotion. The writing is lyrical yet sharp, and she balances the tension of the supernatural with the very real struggles of women who are simply trying to reclaim their lives. There are moments that feel utterly devastating, but also ones that carry immense power, watching these characters confront their history, face down the weight of expectation, and find ways to resist what feels inevitable is nothing short of moving.

What struck me most was how the book deals with cycles: cycles of harm, of silence, of repetition, and the question of whether those cycles can ever be broken. It’s not just about a “curse” in the literal sense, but also about the ways families carry their wounds forward. To see these women push back against what was written for them — to attempt to carve out new futures — was both emotional and empowering.

This was scandalous, heartbreaking, and, ultimately, powerful. A book that lingers long after the final page. For me, it’s an easy 5-star read, and I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Huge thanks to Atlantic Books and NetGalley for the ARC! 🙏

Eniiye is the last in the line of a family of strong Nigerian women - all affected it seems, by the actions of a long gone ancestor who brought a curse on their heads that none would find lasting love. Not only does it seem Eniiye cannot escape the curse - she can't escape comparisons to her tragic aunt Monife. In fact her great-aunt, mother and grandmother believe that Eniiye might be a reincarnation of their late loved one.
This story explores how family bonds affect every generation, how love and loss intertwine themselves into everyday life, and how hard it can be to excape the ties that no matter how loving, can threaten to strangle us.
It's also a glorious love story, as the narrative delves back and forward in time to tell the story of Monife and her "golden boy".
I love this author's writing. She takes us straight into the hearts and minds of her characters, fleshing them out instantly with just a sentence or two. and endearing them to the reader for their strengths and vulnerabilities alike,
Though the story is tragic on many levels, kindness and caring shine through, along with humour, tolerance and, above all, love.
It also gives a glorious glimpse into life in Lagos, the similarites and the differences of its many cultures and the chance to remind ourselves afresh that humanity is the same the world over.

I absolutely adored My Sister the Serial Killer. To say I have been looking forward to Cursed Daughters all year is a teeny understatement. By the time it appeared on NetGalley in July, I had been impatiently checking for it several times a day for weeks (months 😂).

This book did not disappoint. My first piece of advice for fans of Sister is to forget all about Sister. This book has a completely different rhythm, and it really threw me at the beginning of the book. I am sure I missed one or more plot points because I was reading the book faster than the author had intended.

This is a slow-burning book that explores the effects of the Falodun curse on the family’s women. It focuses particularly on Monife and her doppelgänger niece, who is born on the day Monife is buried. The book picks up pace towards the end and reaches what feels like the only natural conclusion without being predictable. A book to savour and enjoy.

My only criticism is that, despite a slight magical realism element in the book, I can’t get over a 31-year-old dog — 4.5 stars, rounded up

This definitely was not the same as My Sister the Serial Killer. Cursed Daughter is suspenseful and rooted in superstition and folklore.

The story jumped between time periods, but it was well written and did not feel confused or disjointed.

The story is captivating and I felt invested in the families story of the curse and how it has impacted each generation.

This book is my new obsession. Cursed Daughters brims with generational pain, supernatural echoes, and women determined to carve out a future beneath the weight of a family curse. It’s heart-wrenching and tenderly brutal – everything I crave in a reading experience.

It’s a story of mothers and daughters bound by trauma the seeps through the bones; of secrets festering under the surface; of love that wounds instead of heals. Every page bleeds grief, feral survival, and the heavy inheritance of scars carried across generations.

Reading this felt less like turning pages and more like enduring a full-body bruise, in the best possible way.

Thank you to Atlantic Books and NetGalley for allowing me to read an advance copy in exchange for my honest thoughts (all opinions are my own).