Fiction

Toyosi’s fiancèe abruptly ends their engagement three months before the wedding. His heart is shattered; the person he thought would take a bullet for him was the one pulling the trigger. Having mourned a love lost and realizing he is now free from betrayal and ruthless manipulation, he slowly feels ready to re-enter the dating scene, but his search is complicated beyond his control.

After a couple of interesting encounters that lead no where, Toyosi, a British-Nigerian amateur writer by night, pens a hilarious, yet heartfelt memo anonymously to a fictitious bride-to-be to explain how difficult it has been to find her. The memo goes viral among single women all over the globe who are interested in identifying the romantic mystery man behind it. Though this makes up a tiny part of his story, like the rest of his story, he soon realises that life is full of unexpected twists and turns.

This compelling quest of one man’s search for love transports readers from a childhood in a western part of Nigeria, to a successful career in London on a journey that deals with sickle cell, and what we’re willing to sacrifice in the search for love.

Lagos, January 1976, six years after the Nigerian Civil War. A new military regime has been in power for six months, but rumours are spreading that a counter-coup is imminent. At an art exhibition in the affluent Ikoyi neighbourhood, Remi Lawal, a Nigerian woman who runs her own greeting-card shop, meets Frances Cooke, who introduces herself as an American art dealer, in Nigeria to buy rare beads. They become friends and over the next few weeks confide in each other about their aspirations, loyalties, marriage, motherhood – and Nigeria itself, as hospitable Remi welcomes the enigmatic Frances into her world.

Remi’s husband, Tunde, naturally suspects Frances – like any American in Lagos – of gathering intelligence for the CIA, yet she is unconvinced. Cynical about the country’s unending instability, and alienated by the shallowness of the city’s elite, she willingly shares her views with Frances. But the February 13 assassination of General Muhammed prompts Remi to reconsider one particular conversation with her new acquaintance in a different light. Her discouragement overcome by a reawakened sense of patriotism, she begins to doubt that the bead collector is who she claims to be.

With her signature subtlety and wit, Sefi Atta examines a brief but profound friendship, and one Nigerian mother’s yearning – amid legacies of conflict and uncertainty – to help build her country from home.