The Giwa sisters, Lara and dara do everything together…so much so people sometimes mistake them for twins!
Now as Dara joins Lara in boarding school, can the girls manage to forge their own separate identities and yet stay loyal to each other despite the new friendships which are tearing them apart? Or wil their own very individual experiences set them on a different path?
Chinua Achebe is considered the father of modern African literature, the writer who “opened the magic casements of African fiction.” The African Trilogy–comprised of Things Fall Apart, Arrow of God, and No Longer at Ease–is his magnum opus. In these masterly novels, Achebe brilliantly imagines the lives of three generations of an African community as their world is upended by the forces of colonialism from the first arrival of the British to the waning days of empire.
The trilogy opens with the groundbreaking Things Fall Apart, the tale of Okonkwo, a hero in his village, whose clashes with missionaries–coupled with his own tragic pride–lead to his fall from grace. Arrow of God takes up the ongoing conflict between continuity and change as Ezeulu, the headstrong chief priest, finds his authority is under threat from rivals and colonial functionaries. But he believes himself to be untouchable and is determined to lead his people, even if it is towards their own destruction. Finally, in No Longer at Ease, Okonkwo’s grandson, educated in England, returns to a civil-service job in Lagos, only to see his morality erode as he clings to his membership in the ruling elite.
Drawing on the traditional Igbo tales of Achebe’s youth, The African Trilogy is a literary landmark, a mythic and universal tale of modern Africa. As Toni Morrison wrote, “African literature is incomplete and unthinkable without the works of Chinua Achebe. For passion, intellect and crystalline prose, he is unsurpassed.”
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?
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.
What would happen if God forgot who he was? Drawing on age-old African story-telling traditions, modern science-fiction and contemporary thriller writing, award-winning Nigerian author Leye Adenle (Easy Motion Tourist, When Trouble Sleeps) conjures up an entirely new way of seeing the world.
The central character, Osaretin, thinks he is just a modest IT guy living in Lagos – but it turns out he is much, much more than that…A delightful, playful, thoughtful adventure in speculative fiction by one of Nigeria s most exciting new writers.
A stunning and illuminating one-of-a-kind anthology of one of the world s most ancient royal dynasties as told by its own people. Infused with the grandeur, history, artistic accomplishments, and challenges that have arisen over the centuries, The Benin Monarchy: An Anthology of Benin History is the first of its kind offering an expansive examination of the history of a nation.
The Kingdom of Benin, now a part of Nigeria, has a remarkable and complex history; epicentre of the largest historical empire ever established in the rainforest belt of West Africa, today it looks to compete with the most modern states within the continent whilst losing none of its unique heritage. Tracing the development of the Kingdom of Benin from the earliest times to the rise of the current monarchical dynasty, a royal line that has endured over 800 years, the reader is taken on a journey that includes trade with Europe, the vicissitudes of colonial and post-colonial periods and culminates in the country we see today.
The politics, religion, military, economy, society and art of Benin, including the renowned Benin bronze and ivory artworks scattered across museums across the world from The British Museum to the MOMA in New York and the Ethnological Museum in Berlin are covered by expert contributions from leading scholars providing a comprehensive anthology intended to be both informative and documentary in its scope. Further chapters on the most recent social and economic projects undertaken by the current Oba, His Royal Majesty OmoN ObaN EdoUkuAkpolokpolo, Ewuare II, Oba of Benin, in particular the fight against human trafficking, makes the volume even more timely and sharply relevant.
Complimented by superb anthropological-style photography and stunning illustrations, The Benin Monarchy: An Anthology of Benin History is a must-read for anyone interested in the history and culture of Benin in particular, and Africa in general.
The Bishop’s Prodigal Daughter is a warm, engaging, and inspiring story about second chances at love, faith and with family.
Eloviano ‘Elo’ Obrukhe is only returning to her home, the oil rich island of Pakurumo to be a maid of honour at her best friend’s wedding and nothing else. She is determined to avoid her disapproving mother, jealous sister and the boy next door that has grown into a distractingly handsome man.
But nothing about her supposed whirlwind trip could have prepared Elo for her mother’s sudden heart attack, nor the impossible-to-resist offer she makes in exchange for Elo helping to run the family church with her more faithful and dutiful sister, Efezino ‘Zino’ Obrukhe. How could Elo know that this offer would lead to seismic changes in her relationships with her overlooked sister Zino, with her potential soulmate Didi, and with her own fledgling faith?
Chudi was a poor boy looking after his ailing father in the village. One day, he is sent to the big city to live with his uncle. However, his auntie hates him with a passion and has vowed to make his life miserable. How can he make it in the city if the odds are against him?
Across ten interconnected stories, six former schoolmates navigate adulthood, haunted by the ghosts of their shared past. Set against the backdrop of contemporary Lagos and boarding school life in Ogun state, The Brevity of Beautiful Things weaves through time, revealing the unexpected consequences of childhood trauma.
Kamara wrestles with the shadow of his demanding father. Julius is lumbered with an imaginable burden after his father’s stroke, Iman escapes her family’s suffocating religious ties. Ufedo treads a precarious path in her pursuit of pleasure. Murtala harbours a secret he’s neverfully shared about his sex life. Faramade lives a life that he knows should be better.
Bako Thomas lives a solitary life, a calm centre in an increasingly unstable world. The City outside his apartment is sliding towards a dystopia as a fuel crisis holds citizens to ransom. He is down to his final chance with Avé, his girlfriend of two years, and his relationships with his neighbours, The Law, Gebu and Mimi is fraught with anxiety and tension. When a tragedy forces him to go on the run, he soon finds himself being roped into the murky world of politics and corruption he thought he had left behind for good.
~How does a philandering London lawyer explain the condom his shocked wife found in his clothes that morning?
~Can sophisticated Ada hold her breath—and misgivings—long enough to finish consulting the musty mystic healer on her childlessness?
~Why does feisty Nez seem to be doing everything possible to fail her visa interview at the US Embassy?
~Will straitlaced Susan, a chorister and prayer warrior, come up with a ruse in time to stop her partner from yielding to the rapacious preacher?
Intrigue follows intrigue as The Condom and Other Stories reels out a colorful cast of characters that readers will love and loathe at the same time. The seventeen stories are told at pace, each laced with humor, snappy dialogue, and the occasional twist. As the heroines and heroes wade through encounters and trying relationships, their inflamed passions, conflicted moralities, and nifty schemes come together to produce a series of amusing results.
Tortoise claims that the piece of land next to King Lion’s palace belongs to his family. Lion and Tortoise have asked the Creator for help, and now there is to be a cooking contest to decide the owner of the land – Tortoise or Lion?
High fantasy inspired by West African spirituality that follows a young musician drawn into a battle between gods.
Rumi and his family are Odu, stricken with poverty and disparaged by the other tribes. When ruthless agents of the Palmaine—the colonising nation that dominates the continent of Basmine—threaten to destroy the village market, Rumi takes it upon himself to liberate his family. Taking a place in the prestigious Golden Room, where earnings from his music offer a chance at freedom, he shoulders his pride and resentment in a bid to make it to the top.
On what should be Rumi’s greatest night at the Golden Room, his life is turned upside down. A terrifying individual known as the Priest of Vultures attacks Rumi and his family. Before her death, Rumi’s mother, Adunola, solicits the help of a dying god and saves Rumi, setting him on the path to become a Shadowwielder: warriors with the ability to use their shadow as a weapon. But Rumi’s need for vengeance may be more important to him than the future of his people…
They burned down the market on the day Vivek Oji died.
One afternoon, a mother opens her front door to find the length of her son’s body stretched out on the veranda, swaddled in akwete material, his head on her welcome mat. The Death of Vivek Oji transports us to the day of Vivek’s birth, the day his grandmother Ahunna died. It is the story of an overprotective mother and a distant father, and the heart-wrenching tale of one family’s struggle to understand their child, just as Vivek learns to recognize himself.
Teeming with unforgettable characters whose lives have been shaped by Vivek’s gentle and enigmatic spirit, it shares with us a Nigerian childhood that challenges expectations. This novel, and its celebration of the innocence and optimism of youth will touch all those who embrace it.
On a hot Sunday afternoon years ago, two sisters walk in on their father’s sexual liaison with the family’s hired help which leaves them both scarred in different ways. Years later, unable to bear the thought of marriage to a man she barely knows, the younger and more adventurous one, Munachi runs away from home on the eve of her traditional marriage, unwittingly resurrecting a long buried feud between her religious mother and eccentric aunty. This conflict leaves the door open for the family’s destruction.
