In That Was Not the Plan, Gabriella Bogialla writes about a life shaped by movement, memory, love, loss, and the deep emotional meaning of home. Her story does not treat culture as something decorative or distant. It shows culture as something lived through food, friendships, family bonds, childhood memories, languages, traditions, and the places that quietly become part of a person forever.
Nigeria, and especially Kano, stands at the beginning of that journey. It is home number one, the place where early identity was formed before life carried Gabriella into other countries and other versions of herself. It becomes the foundation beneath everything that follows. Kano represents childhood, belonging, warmth, and the roots that remain even after distance, time, and new homes enter the picture.
As the memoir moves through Madrid, Marbella, Doha, Lebanon, London, and Italy, each place adds another layer to Gabriella’s emotional world. Some homes bring joy, freedom, friendship, and love. Others become tied to heartbreak, divorce, uncertainty, and survival. Yet the book shows that home is not always simple. A place can hold laughter and grief at the same time. It can comfort you and wound you. It can be somewhere you leave, yet never fully lose.
One of the strongest parts of That Was Not the Plan is the way it captures multicultural life with honesty. Gabriella belongs to more than one place, and that becomes both a gift and a challenge. She carries Nigeria, Lebanon, Italy, London, Spain, and the Middle East within her, not as separate chapters, but as pieces of one whole self. Her identity is not fixed by one country. It is shaped by all the places that loved her, tested her, broke her, and helped her rebuild.
This makes the memoir especially powerful for readers who understand what it means to live between cultures. Gabriella’s journey speaks to anyone who has ever asked where they truly belong. The answer, the book suggests, is not always one place. Sometimes home is a collection of people, memories, landscapes, and versions of yourself that you never lose.
That Was Not the Plan is a moving memoir about identity, resilience, motherhood, love, and the emotional courage it takes to keep going when life changes direction. It is a story for readers who believe that even when plans fall apart, meaning can still be found.
