This episode explores Masquerade by O.O. Sangoyomi, a sweeping historical novel that reframes the Persephone myth in a reimagined fifteenth-century West Africa. You’ll hear why Ododo, a young blacksmith from Timbuktu, is one of the podcast's most compelling protagonists and how palace intrigue, shifting loyalties, and questions of agency drive this story. Peter and Orlando talk setting, character, and the real history behind the fiction to help you decide if this book belongs on your list.

Masquerade by O.O. Sangoyomi

Credit: Forge Books

 

O.O. Sangoyomi’s Masquerade centers on Ododo, a 19-year-old blacksmith from Timbuktu who is pulled from the market into a palace. The episode opens with the tension of that abduction and moves quickly into what makes the world vivid: the city’s ritual life, the food and clothing, and the terrifying spectacle of public power. You hear how wealth and hierarchy shape daily choices, even for a heroine who can work iron with her hands.

We trace Ododo’s relationship with Aremo, the fearsome ruler whose charm never quite hides his violence. Our conversation considers Toni Morrison’s idea that love reflects the lover, and asks what that means when a conqueror says he loves. We weigh the book’s romance against its ethics, the allure of luxury against the cost of accepting it, and why readers keep turning pages through betrayals, strikes, and looming wars.

Finally, we connect the novel’s arc to its inspiration in the Persephone myth. Masquerade challenges the passive version of that story by giving Ododo clear eyes and choices, even when those choices darken. Peter and Orlando consider how ambition, survival, and power reshape compassion, and why this tale will resonate if you love Wolf Hall, Game of Thrones, or any story where private desires collide with public rule.