When gold is discovered, what does the land lose?

In the rural Ghanaian village of Sikakrom, the river once spoke softly, the soil remembered every footprint, and children learned the world by listening. Then gold arrived.

The Price of Gold is a powerful eco-critical novel that follows the slow unraveling of a community caught between survival and destruction.

Through the eyes of Ama, a young girl coming of age amid environmental ruin, and Teacher Kwaku, a principled educator who refuses to look away, the story exposes how illegal mining corrodes not only land and water—but conscience, tradition, and truth.

As forests fall, rivers darken, and silence spreads through homes and chieftaincies, Sikakrom is forced to confront a question it has avoided for too long:
What is development worth when it poisons the future?

Blending lyrical storytelling with sharp social insight, the novel explores:

Environmental degradation and illegal mining (galamsey)

Moral compromise and community silence

Youth awakening and resistance

Memory, land, and ancestral responsibility

This is not a story about mining alone.
It is a story about forgetting—and the dangerous cost of remembering too late.

Perfect for readers who enjoy:

Literary and political fiction

African and Global South narratives

Environmental justice stories

Coming-of-age novels with social depth

Thought-provoking, discussion-worthy books

I am deeply grateful to God for the grace, clarity, and endurance that carried this work from its first question to its final release.

Every page is a reminder that beginnings require faith, and completion requires grace. I do not take either for granted.
To God be the glory.