Lizzie Damilola Blackburn Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Lizzie Damilola Blackburn is a British-Nigerian writer born and raised in Peckham. Her goal is to tell stories that, together with her friends, she wished for but didn’t get a chance to experience.

She won the Literary Consultancy Pen Factor Writing Competition with the draft of her debut novel, Yinka Where is Your Huzband? She wrote the story while working at Carers UK. She was once on the receiving end of the book’s title question before she married.

Yinka, Where is Your Huzband?

Yinka is single, with her mother and other family members and friends constantly reminding her of the need to get a partner whenever they think she forgets it. She has a good job, a closely-knit family, and a reliable set of friends.

After getting embarrased at her sister’s baby shower, where her autn mentioned her in the prayer for her to get a husband, Yinka comes up with a plan to get a wedding date for Rachel’s wedding. With the help of a spreadsheet and her best friend, Yinka is determined to succeed.

Being a 31-year-old woman with no husband or fiancé, unemployed, and in her thoughts, unwanted makes her feel bad. Her aunts pray for her to get a husband, even when Yinka spends most of the time convincing them that she’s okay being single.

Her friends’ lives appear to be moving to different phases, while hers is moving backward, if not stagnant.

Can she find a husband? And what if she finds out that what she needs is only herself?

Her friends at work believe she’s too traditional to save herself for marriage. Some of her girlfriends think she should move on from her ex and the men in her life so far. Yinka has always believed that there is true love and one day it will find her in its due time.

She is ready to prove to her cousins and auntie that she will not stay alone forever. Her job as operations manager at Godfrey and Jackson investment bank gave her the ideal skills to set her objective.
If she doesn’t find someone before Rachel’s engagement party, she might be forced to go to her mother’s church to meet Alex, the man his aunt Debbie recommended. Failure to which online dating apps will become her last resort.

At the engagement party, Yinka discovers there is no possibility of recovering her relationship with Femi Ajaye, who left her broken three years ago after going to a job in New York City. She was too angry to interact with any other man back then, so she chose to go to the church to look for a date.

In the meantime, Yinka, who has been bragging about getting a job promotion, has lost her job and is afraid to share the news in hopes of finding another hustle before her mother learns about it. She has been receiving a lot of pressure from her mother to make good use of her education, and now the weight is heavy as the one of finding a husband.

Alex is a perfect man, always saying and doing the right things, and Yinka looks forward to impressing him. But can Alex want her considering that she is black? Will changing her self-help win his attention? Is it a wise thing to do?

Can their relationship last long? Or should Yinka stick to her best friend, Nana’s motto, ‘I am who I say I am?

The story is told in first person perspective with emails, internet search history, WhatsApp messages, and voicemail transcripts. The story shows the values of self–worth, being true to oneself, and achieving a balance between tradition and contemporary attitudes.

Lizzie Damilola uses lots of humor in the banter between the characters, and readers have Yinka’s ultimate hook-up figured as the journey brings in a lot of fun.

The themes of love, friendship, mother-daughter relationship and family are at the story’s core. Yinka’s story is similar to that of most women’s journey in marriage, and as she felt powerless, she regained her power back, in the end, reminding women out there that they still hold power inside them.

Elements of empowerment, faith in self, traditions, healing, societal expectations vs. reality, acceptance, and forgiveness are also evident in the story. It looks deeper into the values of being true to oneself, self-worth, and achieving a balance between tradition and contemporary attitudes.

Lizzie uses her skills to portray s Christian heroine who has decided to save her virginity until marriage. This makes her odd to those around her including her family, which leaves her puzzled in her white British social circles.

The book centers on British Nigerian Yinka and her close female friend and family, who are her support system. Her life changes when the promotion she has been anticipating at her workplace fails, and she is fired instead.

With her younger cousin expecting a child soon, her mother and aunties feel like she is running out of time and starts planning blind dates for her.

Through failed dated, a couple of interventions, and a change in appearance, Yinka learns the hard way how to love the things that make her unique. Finally, with the help of friends, her therapist, and God, she finds her way back to her authentic self, a unique and exciting journey to watch.

Even though Yinka has been making bad decisions in her life, she’s lucky to have three good and honest friends and an auntie helping her confront her problems. They wished that she would get someone.
Yinka’s relationship with the people in her life shows how sometimes it’s challenging to have a big family that understands nothing about personal boundaries.

Lizzie covers common global issues, i.e., family, society, and cultural pressures. In case you’re looking for a dramatic and contemporary novel that’s lively and fun, Yinka, Where is Your Huzband is a perfect pick.

The book has a powerful story about family, love, and traditions with a realistic storyline. The author writes with tenderness and absorbing power that brings Yinka back to her life. Will she discover that the people in her circle might also cause the root of her problems?

Yinka represents most women who have no self-confidence, and because of her early life experiences, she grew up believing that people have the right to blame her for her single life.