Fiction

The yearnings of a young and restless orphan are ignited when an enigmatic drifter named Bros returns to Gulu Station from Rome, laden with gifts and the allure of other places. The orphan longs for escape too, for life to have meaning and so the whole village can look up to him.

When soldiers from the Seven Men Army descend on Gulu Station scouting for recruits, the young men of the village must face conscription or flee. Armed with little more than stories told to him by Bros, the narrator takes his first step towards realising his dreams. But how prepared is he for the perils of the desert and the sea that lie between him and Rome?

When the Sky is Ready The Stars Shall Appear is a compelling tale of a young man’s journey towards Rome in search of a better life.

Following a horrific tragedy, Tambaya leaves Kano for Accra to live with her brother, Aminu. Sadly, her dream of a new beginning is dashed when she can no longer endure the indignity she suffers at the hands of her brother’s new wife.

Tambaya returns to northern Nigeria and soon finds work as a matron in an orphanage, under the watchful eye of the ruthless Miss Scholastica. Just when she begins to settle into her new life, an unexpected visit threatens to destroy everything she has worked so hard to build. Tambaya faces moral dilemmas on all sides, but she must stop her life from unravelling once again.

Vulnerable, and surrounded by malice, corruption and greed, Tambaya struggles to shape her destiny. An Abundance of Scorpions charts one woman’s journey through grief and uncertainty to a road that leads to self-discovery, redemption and love.

Hortensia and Marion are next door neighbours in a charming, bougainvillea-laden Cape Town suburb. One is black, one white. Both are successful women with impressive careers behind them. Both have recently been widowed. Both are in their eighties. And both are sworn enemies, sharing hedge and hostility prined with zeal.
But one day an unforeseen event forces the women together. Could long-held mutual loathing transform into friendship?

Love thy neighbour? Easier said than done.

Tall Tales is a collection of short stories that cover a diverse spectrum of experiences with emphasis on dark humour and exaggerations. The stories are full of humour, and bubbly with unforgettable characters. The first three stories (Query, Jekyll and Hyde and Monthly Performance Review) are based on the experiences of a banker as he carries out his daily duties.

Electric Pole highlights the bizarre ways life is lived and lost in contemporary Nigeria. Chronic Hunger is about the irony of life through the eyes of a starving 13 year old. New Money paints a picture of a dysfunctional society that blindly lusts after wealth regardless of its source. Child Abuse details a typical day in the life of a house girl but with a twist in the end. Sanitation Day is a satire of sorts. People have become one with filth with disastrous consequences.

In The Dream, the protagonist has a vivid dream about an eccentric spinster and her mango tree. Just a Little Robbery is about three boys who decide to rob a mall, only for one of them to encounter unwanted consequences. In The lift, a young woman enters a car ride that rapidly becomes a life and death struggle with a lunatic. When John’s car broke down in an unknown terrain, the sight of one lonely house was more than welcome. However, he soon discovers that all is not as it seems in the Half Way House. In Weight Problems, things go from bad to worse for an obese lady keen on suicide. Farewell Party is set in the far future, where perfection is everything and flaws are not allowed.

Expert In All Styles explores, in richly-textured stories, the complex and often painful struggles of individuals with desire, despair, and hope within the social constructs of contemporary Nigeria.

The twelve stories in the collection range in setting and tone – from the joys of a family excursion in Maiduguri in The Lake Chad Club to an American-Nigerian family’s return to Lagos in Communicable Disease.
In this gorgeously crafted debut, Echeruo interrogates the dynamics of power – from the intimacies of domestic life, to the machinations of national politics and the fervour of religion – seeking always an understanding of the human condition.

Expert In All Styles is a thoughtful, incisive collection with memorably-drawn characters whose lives are as universal as they are particular.