George Fox University Alumna, Jordan Ifueko, Publishes NYT Bestseller

Reported By: Aurora Biggers

NEWBERG, Ore. - George Fox University (GFU) graduate, Jordan Ifueko, published her first Young Adult (YA) novel, “Raybearer”, which made the New York Times “Young Adult Hardcover” bestseller list.

Ifueko published the novel in August but began working on the story when she was 13. She spent copious hours in Newberg — at The Coffee Cottage, Chapters Books and Coffee, The Coffee Cat — and on GFU’s campus working on the novel. According to her, “Raybearer” is “a West-African inspired fantasy about … loyalty, fate, and the lengths we’re willing to go for the ones we love.” And if you read closely, you can find GFU easter eggs woven throughout the story.

Hint: there’s an amphitheater inspired by a spot on campus where Ifueko wrote.

Ifueko’s book features Tarisai, a girl raised in isolation and bound by magic to obey her mother’s wishes. Tarisai’s birth and lineage is shrouded in just as much mystery, and when she is eventually caught up in a “virtuous empire” with a divine right rule, she must choose between new-found power or cutting her own path in the face of the empire’s gross oppression.

“Raybearer” is a work of intricate world-building and provocative wisdom, but perhaps most importantly, it’s a critical book about a girl’s coming of age. The book’s dedication includes a nod to “kid[s] scanning fairy tales for a hero with a face like theirs,” which beautifully and succinctly summarizes the power of Ifueko’s narrative.

As a girl of color, Tarisai is an important protagonist in YA literature, and her character is part of what makes this book so magical and brilliant. “I’ve always been attracted to stories about girls learning who they are and what systems are in place against them and for them,” Ifueko said.

Ifueko also aimed to write a novel featuring Black characters as the people in power. In many ways, this book is a story of Black love and Black joy. “If you only see yourself reflected in a struggle narrative, you lose some of your humanity,” she said. Part of “Raybearer”is the power of storytelling and the way histories and stories shape truth and power.

As a person of Nigerian descent, Ifueko employed the influence of West Africa. The storytellers in the book, Griots, are based on West African storytellers, still present today — people of extraordinary talent with power to shape the stories of kingdoms. “They told truth to power,” she said, and Tarisai’s story is really the story of a girl learning to speak truth to the power around her.

“The book does examine systems of oppression like patriarchy … imperialism, and cultural genocide,” Ifueko said. Through the novel, Ifueko looks at how genocide can take place without murder. “If you take someone’s stories and replace them with the stories that those in power want told, you’re committing genocide,” she said.

As she wrote the story, even while at GFU, Ifueko said she was “trying to figure out what I believed about systems myself.” In original drafts, Tarisai supported the “virtuous empire,” but as Ifueko grew and began questioning the American imperialistic empire she grew up in, her characters began to question them too. She began to ask questions like “what does a ‘virtuous empire’ look like?” She said, “I realized no, there’s no such thing as a ‘virtuous empire.’”

Ifueko’s novel is not just a critique of empires; she also critiques the evangelical church. A former evangelical herself, Ifueko credits Quakerism for influencing her to evaluate systems of oppression, including those within evangelicalism. “Quakers have been really ahead of the whole Body of Christ in acknowledging the equality of men and women,” she said.

Hidden within “Raybearer” is a Christian allegory. In one instance, Tarisai is proud of herself for staying silent and not speaking up in a council meeting. This is a reference to the church silencing women.

“One of the things I love about “Raybearer” is that Tarisai tries to accept what she’s been told,” Ifueko said, “she isn’t this insta-rebel … she stifles herself … until she has no choice but to stare it [the system] in the face and question it.”

As much as “Raybearer” is full of magical delight with the power to transport you somewhere otherworldly, it is a very serious and very important work on the complexities of girlhood, race, power, and faith.

The next installation of “Raybearer” is due to release in 2021.