Proudly Nigerian

Peter Idenala’s stable but uninteresting life, as an ambitious young banker, is disrupted when he comes across a book, published as fiction, recounting the torrid experiences he lived through during his days in the university. He is shaken because the writer is Neta Okoye, a girl who broke his heart and dumped him six years before. Peter is forced to revisit his past, to relive his once complicated relationship with Neta and the mistakes that marred their years in school; the friendships they found and lost.

When the book leads him directly to her, they are faced with a difficult decision: Continue with their emotionally-empty lives, independent of each other, or be together again and confront the trail of past misfortunes that binds them. For Neta, accepting Peter again comes with a promise of happiness, but it also carries the risk of uncovering the secrets she has carried throughout her life. Secrets involving a brother she used to sleep with.

Their relationship faces a battle against this past blighted by pain and loss, by youth and stupidity, by unprotected sex and incest, by betrayal and heartbreaks, by manslaughter and suicide.

A mysterious plague known as the Grey grips the small village of Pilam, which the world has quarantined without pity. Laying waste to Pilam’s residents, the sickness saps its victims of strength, drains the color from their eyes, and kills all promise. Only the young are immune. But beyond the barricades and walls of soldiers―the manifestation of a nation’s terror―there are rumors of a cure. Dunka, the eldest son of a family reeling from the Grey, takes on the daunting task of leaving Pilam to find that cure for his siblings and save them before it’s too late.

His brother and sisters, however, have plans of their own. Navigating the chaos of violence, hunger, and death, each of them tries to make sense of the bleak circumstances, forging new bonds with other juvenile survivors left to their own devices. Now an unlikely family of six, they choose their own perilous paths, at first separately and then together, coming to terms with the decisions they make and the ghosts they cannot leave behind.

Umar Turaki’s gripping novel is a story of survival, love, and the human spirit’s tenacious capacity for wonder.

The day a stained brown envelope arrives from Taduno’s homeland, he knows that the time has come to return from exile. Arriving full of trepidation, the musician discovers that his community no longer recognises him, believing that Taduno is dead. His girlfriend Lela has disappeared, taken away by government agents. As he wanders through his house in search of clues, he realises that any traces of his old life have been erased. All that was left of his life and himself are memories. But Taduno finds a new purpose: to unravel the mystery of his lost life and to find his lost love. Through this search, he comes to face a difficult decision: to sing for love or to sing for his people. Taduno’s Song is a moving tale of sacrifice, love and courage.

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.

When his girlfriend throws him out during the pandemic, Bambi has to go to his Uncle’s house in lock-down Lagos. He arrives during a blackout, and is surprised to find his Aunty Bidemi sitting in a candlelit room with another woman. They both claim to be the mother of the baby boy, fast asleep in his crib.

At night Bambi is kept awake by the baby’s cries, and during the day he is disturbed by a cockerel that stalks the garden. There is sand in the rice. A blood stain appears on the wall. Someone scores tribal markings into the baby’s cheeks. Who is lying and who is telling the truth?