Where the Children Take Us

In this spellbinding memoir, popular CNN anchor Zain Asher pays tribute to her mother’s strength and determination to raise four successful children in the shadow of tragedy.



Awaiting the return of her husband and young son from a road trip, Obiajulu Ejiofor receivesshattering news. There’sbeen a fatal car crash, and one of themis dead.

InWhere the Children Take Us,Obiajulu’s daughter, Zain E. Asher, tells the story of her mother’s harrowingfighttoraisefour childrenas a widowed immigrantin South London.Drawing on tough-love parenting strategies, Obiajulu teaches her sons and daughters to overcome thedaily pressures of poverty, crime and prejudice – and much more. With her relentless support, the childrenexceed all expectations – becominga CNN anchor, an Oscar-nominated actor – Asher’s older brother is Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Year A Slave) – a doctor and a thriving entrepreneur.

The generations-old Nigerian parentingtechniquesthat lead to the family's salvationwereborn in the village whereyoungObiajulu andArinze meetwith their country on the brink of war.Together, they emigrate to London in the 1970s to escapethe violence,butsoonconfront adifferent set of challenges in the West.

When grief threatens to engulf her fractured familyafter the accident, Obiajulu, suddenly a single mother in a foreign land, refuses to accept defeat. As her children veer down the wrongpath, sheinstills afamilybook club with Western literary classics,testing theirresolveand challenging their deeper understanding. She plasters newspaper clippings of Black success stories on the walls, all whilerunningShakespearetheatre lines with her son and finishing homework into the early morning with Zain. When distractions persist, she cuts the TV cord and installs a residential pay phone.

The story of a woman who survived genocide, famine, poverty and crushing grief to rise from war torn Africa to the streets of South London and eventually the drawing rooms of Buckingham Palace,Where the Children Take Usis an unforgettable portrait of strength, tenacity, love and perseverance embodied in one towering woman.