Finding Beauty Pushing Boundaries

An intriguing story about a woman whose childhood was marred by the failed promise of an aunt who had promised to ensure she furthered her education.

At age 14, rather than going to school, this teenager turns into a servant girl for this aunt. In an ironic twist of fate, she finds herself within the walls of one of the finest universities in the country, not to study but to find love…A love that will expose her to the ethnicity question facing war-torn Nigeria in the aftermath of the Biafra civil war of 1967.

In this memoir, her daughters take you on an emotion-packed journey examining the deeper issues at the heart of their mother’s story - issues like gender roles in African societies, marital harmony in difficult times, forgiveness, and faith amidst uncertainty. In doing this, the authors explore life in three cultural cities in the southern part of Nigeria, starting from a tiny Amazon-rainforest-like village in Cross River State – Calabar where their mother Rose Aniema Bassey was born.

The story spans four decades, the transformations within those decades and the legacy passed on to Aniema’s children after her passing in 1995.

The book does not miss a mention of the impact of one man in the history of the Benin monarchy - Archbishop Benson Idahosa - without whom the history of that city cannot be complete.

There are many twists and turns, choices, and words that shape the life of Rose Aniema Bassey that the reader will be blessed to learn from.