Two weeks ago, the world stood still as Prince Harry married his girlfriend, bi-racial American actress Meghan Markle. We were all held spellbound by the beauty of the event, the tradition and the fact that history was being made with the entrance of a biracial lady into the fold of Europe’s most conservative monarchies. Beyond history being made, we all fell in love with love as it floated in the air at Windsor Castle. We all renewed our vows as we watched a touching love story stronger than anything else. Harry’s nerves, Markle’s fashion and beauty, the look in their eyes made us all dewy eyed and ready to fall in love all over again. It was spectacular. And as the hashtag # it should have been me began to grow online around the world, there are so many persons who wished they could fall in love and stay in love just watching that royal wedding. We all gushed, all handed Meghan over as if she were our daughter, shed a tear or two with Meghan’s proud mum and held Prince Harry’s hand as he got restless as if he were our brother. In the face of wars, tragedies, drug abuse, murders and mean spiritedness, the royal wedding gave the world something to cheer about and something to celebrate. Here is wishing them a good life. Here then are five books for those who still dream that cupid will locate them, like it did the royal couple.
1) To Marry a Prince by Sophia Page
To Marry a Prince by Sophia Page is definitely one book to read if you were so completely taken in by the royal wedding. This is the story of the protagonist Bella Greenwood who having never given a thought to marrying a prince found herself in an embarrassing situation one night in a garden and was rescued by a tall dark handsome man with laughing eyes who happened to be a prince. Then he asked for her hand in marriage and that’s where her problems began. As she prepared for the wedding, there were many issues including bridesmaid politics and a wedding dress controversy that became a national scandal. For those of you who did not get enough of the royal wedding and are looking for lingering memories, well this is the book for you.
2) Cinderella by Charles Perrault
As little girls and some of our little boy friends, we all read Cinderella. The most famous edition was written by French author, Charles Perrault in 1697. The story of the poor little girl who slaved for her stepmother and her two sisters. One night the King and the Queen came to town with the Prince who was looking for a bride. While her two wicked sisters hoped that one of them will be chosen as the Prince’s bride, Cinderella wins the heart of the Prince in a twist of fate. Very Meghan. Remember how her older siblings wanted to ruin her destiny. Another look at Cinderella will remind us and refresh us about how despite all odds, Prince Harry still married his bride and we all loved him for that.
3) Poetry Please: Love Poems
The book that should be beside every love forlorn couple or persons who wish for love or are already in love at this time should be Poetry Please: Love Poems, an anthology of love poems written by poets from across the ages from Keats to Byron, Shakespeare to Rossetti and poems from their contemporary counterparts to include Simon Armitage, Wendy Hope, carol Anne Duffy among others. These are poems on the different sides of love whether in marriage or heartbreak, friendship or infatuation, poems that touch the heart. This book is a vital assembly of our most treasured and enduring poems in true salute to all Harry and Meghan wannabes. A must read. Truly good for the season.
4) Americanah by Chimmamanda Ngozi Adichie
Americanah by Chimmamanda Ngozi Adichie is a collection of short stories on immigration and the merging of two culture, Nigerian and American, quite like Harry and Meghan. While it contains stories of the immigrant’s longing for home, it is also full of surprisingly touching love stories, heartbreak and rich relationships. A go to book at this time of love race and the entrance of a new member of the royal family, quite literally one of us.
5) Letters to Martha by Dennis Brutus
It is hard not to see the love imagery in a book written by one of South Africa’s anti-apartheid campaigners. Among his many collections, this is one of my favorites because of his clever juxtaposition of love with incarceration. The longing in this poetry collection, the language, the distillation of words translated from love to pain and vice versa is the work of a literary genius. I read Dennis Brutus’s Letters to Martha as an undergraduate in A.B.U Zaria in 1979 but I still go back to it misty eyed and excited when a royal wedding like this takes place. It is heartwarming and trenchant and yet it was written as prison poetry. Incredible!
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