No Sweetness Here and Other Short Stories – Ama Ata Aidoo

No Sweetness Here and Other Short Stories (1970): Ama Ata Aidoo’s debut collection of eleven sharply observed tales exposes the bittersweet underside of independence‑era Ghana, where the promise of liberation gives way to economic stagnation, rigid patriarchy and moral hypocrisy. With wit and compassion, Aidoo captures women’s lives on the cusp of change, where tradition—like sudden snakebite in the title story—stands as both anchor and threat in an evolving, post‑colonial world.