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Infinite Roots
“I must tell you my history,” Baba would roar, “the history you learn at school is not better than that which I have to tell you. My history concerns you directly, it is who you are, what you are, and what you’re going to become.”
“…woven in an unbroken thread of prose…in a complex, digressive narrative that is like a set of Chinese boxes (or those Russian Matryoshka dolls), one laid inside another.” — Literary Review
Infinite Roots follows the multi-generational story of a Ghanaian military family, composed through the eyes of a young daughter learning about her history and culture through the many stories of her parents and elders. This autobiographical novel spreads out across the 60s and 80s Ghana as the military family journeys from Wa to Tamale to Accra to Kumasi to Takoradi to Ho and more. As the young girl grows, she also begins to share her own re-tellings as her elders once did.
“…it is an incredible survey of Ghanaian traditions, customs, superstitions and beliefs, as well as social and political history and the emergence of female education.” — Lee Oliver
₵80.00₵100.00Infinite Roots
₵80.00₵100.00 -
The Law Is An Ass: A Collection of Short Stories
“They say fiction is an extension of the factual. Niran Adedokun’s The Law is an Ass, features nine short stories that seem like fictional manifestations of the concerns in his second book, The Danfo Driver in All of Us. In this collection, Niran continues his jeremiad about Nigeria, with stories about sexual shenanigans (both real and imagined), corruption, poverty and deprivation as well as a heady cocktail of other problems that beset a third world country like Nigeria. These stories, told in simple but gripping prose, will hold you in thrall like the tale of the Ancient Mariner.” – Toni Kan, author, The Carnivorous City
“These stories have tricky plots, appearing simple and linear in design with seductive and elegant prose. Line after line, paragraph after paragraph, we grow to love the protagonists.” – Jahman Anikulapo, former Arts Editor and Editor of The Guardian on Sunday
“The author leads you from randomness to some unexpected cataclysmic event in his stories. One minute you are innocently traipsing through the gullies of life and the next thing, Nigeria happens to you. The stories are like short films, vivid and captivating.” – Mildred Okwo, filmmaker and writer
“Niran’s stories are populated by characters who are our neighbours, our friends, our colleagues and members of our family. He offers us an entertaining and educative read that is vivid, engaging and throbbing.” – Olukorede Yisha, author, In The Name of our Father and Secret Vaults
₵80.00 -
In the Company of Men
Harper’s Bazaar: Best Book of the Year
Boston Globe: Best Book of the Year
Ms. Magazine: Best Feminist Book of the Year
Words Without Borders: Best Translated Book of the YearDrawing on real accounts of the Ebola outbreak that devastated West Africa, this poignant, timely fable reflects on both the strength and the fragility of life and humanity’s place in the world.
Two boys venture from their village to hunt in a nearby forest, where they shoot down bats with glee, and cook their prey over an open fire. Within a month, they are dead, bodies ravaged by an insidious disease that neither the local healer’s potions nor the medical team’s treatments could cure. Compounding the family’s grief, experts warn against touching the sick. But this caution comes too late: the virus spreads rapidly, and the boys’ father is barely able to send his eldest daughter away for a chance at survival.
In a series of moving snapshots, Véronique Tadjo illustrates the terrible extent of the Ebola epidemic, through the eyes of those affected in myriad ways: the doctor who tirelessly treats patients day after day in a sweltering tent, protected from the virus only by a plastic suit; the student who volunteers to work as a gravedigger while universities are closed, helping the teams overwhelmed by the sheer number of bodies; the grandmother who agrees to take in an orphaned boy cast out of his village for fear of infection. And watching over them all is the ancient and wise Baobab tree, mourning the dire state of the earth yet providing a sense of hope for the future.
Acutely relevant to our times in light of the coronavirus pandemic, In the Company of Men explores critical questions about how we cope with a global crisis and how we can combat fear and prejudice.
₵85.00In the Company of Men
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Prince of Monkeys
Growing up in middle-class Lagos, Nigeria during the late 1980s and early 1990s, Ihechi forms a band of close friends in his neighbourhood. They discover Lagos together as teenagers whose differing ideologies come to the fore over everything from film to football, Fela Kuti to God, sex to politics. They remain close-knit until Ihechi’s girlfriend, is killed in an anti-government riot.
Exiled by his concerned mother, Ihechi moves in with his uncle’s family, where he struggles to find himself outside his former circle of friends. Ihechi eventually finds success by leveraging his connection with a notorious prostitution linchpin and political heavyweight, and earning favour among the ruling elite.
But just as Ihechi is about to make his final ascent into the elite political class, he encounters his childhood friends and experiences a crisis of conscience that forces him to question his motives and who he wants to be. Nnamdi Ehirim’s debut novel, Prince of Monkeys is a lyrical, reflective glimpse into Nigerian life, religion, and politics at the end of the twentieth century.
₵135.00Prince of Monkeys
₵135.00 -
Lagos to London
A tale of two Nigerian students Remi Coker and Nnamdi Okonkwo from different backgrounds who leave the shores of Nigeria full of hope to further their education abroad. Remi from the prestigious Coker family is expected to return home after her law degree to run the family law firm and Nnamdi, frustrated by the federal university strikes plans to escape Nigeria and never return.
The story follows their journey of newfound freedom, self-discovery, hope, unexpected turns, lessons, and the realities of life in the United Kingdom.
₵85.00Lagos to London
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The Riddle of The Oil Thief
It is the untold story of several decades of oil and gas exploitation in the Niger Delta of Nigeria. It x-rays the root causes of insecurity in Nigeria and presents the recipe for the restoration of peace in Nigeria and the entire West African Sub-region.
₵260.00The Riddle of The Oil Thief
₵260.00 -
Anu Gbaa Ajo Egbe (Igbo)
Ositadimma Amakeze has been heralded as the modern-day Achebe.
Anụ Gbaa Ajọ Egbe… (fable)is a contribution towards promotion and preservation of folktales as tradition in Igbo land. Let the title, which at the first looks controversial, not deter you, for where there’s Tortoise they are limitless possibilities. Remember, it was he, who chose to be addressed as “Unu dum” when he joined a flock of birds to a feast in heaven. You better see why he is the Nkpọnkpọ kpọkịrịkpọ, one of a kind that no other animal is capable of begetting but she Tortoise herself!
The novel documents the adventures of Mbekwu, the tortoise who is regarded as the trickster in Igbo folklore – equivalent to Ananse in Twi lore or the Coyote in Native American lore.
₵40.00Anu Gbaa Ajo Egbe (Igbo)
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Bahiya, The Little Zebra
Age Range: 8+ years
Bahiya does not want to be striped like all the other zebras in the Serengeti. She wants to stand out and be the most special little zebra in the whole of Africa! Determined to reach this goal, Bahiya and her friend come up with a creative idea for a unique new look. The result … is not what she expected!
Will Bahiya realise how special she is, even with her stripes?
₵30.00Bahiya, The Little Zebra
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The Madhouse
A house brings two unique people together by the unlikeliest of chances. In their union, that of an almost priest and a prodigal daughter, two brothers whose bond transcend the laws of nature are born.
André and Max have a seemingly blissful life until the boys start sharing dreams and their lives begin to unravel. Murderous thoughts, manic dreams, and their somewhat unbreakable wandering between reality and reverie, would lead them down unknown paths that threaten to severe their family ties.
In this exhilarating and dreamy narration set against the backdrop of a tumultuous era of military rule in Nigeria, TJ Benson weaves a spellbinding tale about the clashes between cultures, the impact of fragile political situations on everyday people, and the lengths we are willing to go in order to save our loved ones.
₵135.00The Madhouse
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Nearly All The Men In Lagos Are Mad
Nearly All the Men in Lagos are Mad is a collection of twelve short stories featuring characters with unique voices and stories that represent the diverse class, gender and ethnic melting pot that is Lagos.
There’s a story of a young lady who tries to find her oyibo soulmate on the streets of Lagos; another of a pastor’s wife who defends her husband from an allegation of adultery; a wife takes a knife to her husband’s penis; a night of lust between a rising musician and his Instagram baddie takes an unexpected turn.
From Ikorodu to Yaba, Ilupeju to Victoria Island, the stories underscore with wit, humour, wisdom and sensitivity, the perils of trying to find lasting love and companionship in Africa’s most notorious city that will prove universal and illuminating.
There’s a story behind every hustling, hopeful, striving Lagosian trying to make their way to a better life and Damilare Kuku’s characterisations are brilliant distillations of this recognisable mind-set.
Every story is layered; these are people and choices you may recognise in yourself and people you know. Ultimately, these stories will make you laugh, think, feel and remind us all that we are not alone.
₵120.00 -
We Won’t Budge
Part autobiographical, part social commentary, this is a powerful and insightful look at the situation of border intellectuals at the beginning of the twenty-first century.
In this searing memoir, Manthia Diawara revisits his early years as an emigrant in love with Swedish girls and Western rock and roll music, taking us from the nightclubs of his hometown Bamako to the cafes of Boulevard Montparnasse and the black neighbourhoods of 1970s Washington DC, USA.
This book is about the developed world – that is the former colonisers of the African continent now busy slamming shut its doors to African and Arab immigrants.
It is also about human rights violations and racism against people of colour. Diawara writes that he wanted to give a human face to African immigration in today’s global world. He describes the reasons why many Africans leave the continent – such as poverty, persecution and lack of opportunities – and writes sometimes angrily and sometimes very movingly, about their predicament in Europe and the US, where they are caught between their traditions and the West’s vacuous modernity.
“With humour and the intimacy of a conversatonal tone, Diawara writes of the ‘global’ African as a nomad at the mercy of whirlwinds of economic and political dislocation at home and racism and intolerance abroad. He is not at home in his country; he is not at home abroad. But the nomad refuses to bow down to those whirlwinds, to let evil turn him around, and against all the odds becomes an active contributor to the multiculture of the globe. This is the story of a diasporic soul that finds home in its own resilience and in so may ways it is all our story.” – Ngugi wa Thiong’o (Author of A Grain of Wheat et al)
“We Won’t Budge is destined to become a classic – it is one of the most insightful, layered and moving accounts of the modern African Diaspora.” – Patricia Williams (Author of The Alchemy of Race & Rights et al)
₵85.00We Won’t Budge
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The Butchers of Ogyakrom and Other Short Stories
The Butchers of Ogyakrom is a collection of short stories dating back to the 1980s when Ghana was under the grip of a violent military dictatorship. Who are the real “Butchers in Ogyakrom” and what do they deal in?
This collection deals with turbulent times in the history of Ghana, particularly the abuse of political power by military rulers. It also deals with the ailments that afflict a neocolonial African country in the era of IMF-led structural adjustment programme (SAP).
What drives a nation’s rulers to seek the help of a devious and ambitious soothsayer? Who’s responsible for the numerous midnight abductions, murders and disappearances in Ogvakrom?
What happens when a Prince ignores his father’s advice and joins forces with poor peasants fighting to defend their land? What does a mother do with a child who is half-snake, half human? Can the Catholic priest save this child?
The stories employ candour, historical honesty and humour to take a swipe the at some of Ghana’s most recent (mis) rulers in times of crisis. It is bound to generate a keen interest, and, of course, controversy.
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The Shrinking Bowl
Young girls in Ghana confront a challenging socio-economic environment. This novel is the story of one such girl’s life-journey, from childhood to middle-age, and the lessons of this journey. It is a sequel to the author’s first novel, Journey.
“A delightful lifeworld weighted with history and almost untouched in African fiction…a world whose veneer of simplicity belies its tangled dark underbelly. The novel deftly combines the solace of familiarity with a mystery of memory and intimacy…quirky and endearing.” – Professor Helen A. Yitah, Dean, School of Languages, University of Ghana (UG) and Honourary Secretary, Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences; former Head, Department of English, UG
“This book is a tour de force of its genre; a journey of discovery through a cultural landscape in a fascinating part of Ghana. Difficult to put down even at the end.” – Nana Kwasi Gyan Apenteng, Communications Consultant; former President, Ghana Association of Writers
₵30.00The Shrinking Bowl
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Danger Express (Pacesetters)
Where was he now? he (Ishmael) wondered…
Gradually his mind began to clear…Slowly he started to put the shattering events of the recent past into place.
There was something important he had to do. Had to…
The lives of several important heads of state, VIPs and many others including children and the loveable Tom are in the balance. And time is running out for Ishmael.
₵60.00Danger Express (Pacesetters)
₵60.00 -
Too Cold for Comfort (Pacesetters)
A young man marries a beautiful girl but this is not, as you might think, the happy ending to our story. Hannah is obsessed by Christian ideals of morality and purity and this leads to conflict and unhappiness. Events take a tragic turn before Hannah is brought to her senses.
₵60.00