Every Body Looking: seeking an identity

Every Body Looking by Candice Iloh is an emotionally-driven book about a first-generation Nigerian immigrant, Ada, who is about to attend college away from the watchful eye of her father.  Through a series of flashbacks from first grade, second grade, and middle school the reader is exposed to the trauma young Ada faced.  The repercussions of that trauma resonates her total being until the present when she embarks on her own for the first time, to a HBCU to fulfill her duty to her father.

Ada's reserved nature changes as she meets new people on campus and is drawn to a dance studio where she feels, in her heart, she can be her authentic self.  It's more than a coming-of-age story. It's a self-actualization tale that is fraught with sorrow and regret, but most importantly, with hope.

This is intended for a young adult to adult audience due to its mature themes about abuse. As a debut author Iloh approaches Ada's story with such care.  Iloh's choice to write the story as a novel-in-verse only adds to its lyricism.