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Season Of Crimson Blossoms
WINNER OF THE NLNG NIGERIA PRIZE FOR LITERATURE
An affair between 55-year-old widow Binta Zubairu and 25-year-old weed dealer Reza was bound to provoke condemnation in conservative Northern Nigeria. Brought together in unusual circumstances, Binta and Reza faced a need they could only satisfy in each other. Binta – previously reconciled with God – now yearns for intimacy after the sexual repression of her marriage, the pain of losing her first son and the privations of widowhood. Meanwhile, Reza’s heart lies empty and waiting to be filled due to the absence of a mother. The situation comes to a head when Binta’s wealthy son confronts Reza, with disastrous consequences. This story of love and longing – set against undercurrents of political violence – unfurls gently, revealing layers of emotion that defy age, class and religion.
₵120.00Season Of Crimson Blossoms
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Why Do You Dance When You Walk?
One morning in Paris on the way to kindergarten, a little girl asks her father “Papa, why do you dance when you walk?” The question is innocent and serious. Why does her father limp, why can’t he ride a bicycle or a scooter? Her father feels compelled to answer, to bring back the memories of his childhood in Djibouti and tell her what happened to his leg. It was a place of sunlight and dust and sickness, a sickness that made him different, unique. They called him a skinflint and a runt, but he was the smartest kid in his school.
Waberi remembers the shifting desert of Djibouti, the Red Sea, the shanty roofs of the houses in his neighborhood, an immense loneliness and some unforgettable characters: Papa-la-Tige who sold baubles to tourists, his tough, silent mother Zahra who trembled, and his grandmother nicknamed Cochise. He tells of the moment when his life changed forever and the ensuing struggle that made him a man, a man who knows the value of poetry, silence and freedom, a man who is still dancing.
₵110.00Why Do You Dance When You Walk?
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The Whispering Trees
The magical tales in The Whispering Trees capture the essence of life, death and coincidence in Northern Nigeria. Myth and reality intertwine in stories featuring cat-eyed English witches, political agitators, newly-wedded widows, and the tormented whirlwind, Kyakkyawa. The two medicine men of Mazade battle against their egos, an epidemic and an enigmatic witch. And who is Okhiwo, whose arrival is heralded by a pair of little white butterflies?
₵95.00The Whispering Trees
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It Wasn’t Exactly Love: Stories from the Farafina Trust Creative Writing Workshop 2012
A selection of participants from the 2012 Farafina Trust Creative Writing Workshop come together in this delightful collection of 13 stories that tell of humans and human relationships. ‘Be Happy’ chronicles a woman’s journey to contentment in a marriage she has settled for. An adolescent is faced with a shocking reality while attending a Catholic boys’ school in ‘A Taste of It’. In ‘An Autodidact’s Guide to Sex-Ed’ a woman contemplates the right time to introduce her children to sex. Domestic violence is explored in ‘You Take Me for a Goat’. ‘Ladies Night’ tells of the escapades of a middle-aged married man in the city of Accra.
This collection of short stories dazzles with its simplicity and resonance. It Wasn’t Exactly Love is a profound journey into the ties that bind us.
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A Handful of Dust: Stories from the 2013 Farafina Trust Creative Writing Workshop
In this collection, 19 stories speak of the myriad struggles faced by contemporary Africans. ‘Aderoye’ tells the tragic story of a life lost to tradition. A cult collects its due in ‘Pink Soap’. ‘The Little Things’ captures life in a typical Nigerian general hospital. A budding paedophile struggles with his basic urges in ‘Fighting Temptations’. In ‘A Handful of Dust’ a gay teenager struggles to find acceptance from his family.
From the participants of the 2013 Farafina Trust Creative Writing Workshop, A Handful of Dust aptly portrays the internal conflicts we suffer when the lines dividing opposing sides blur.
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Americanah: Tenth Anniversary Edition
This special edition of the groundbreaking novel by internationally acclaimed author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie commemorates a decade of literary excellence and cultural impact, reaffirming Americanah’s place as a modern classic. Featuring a new introduction from the author, this edition is beautifully presented, designed to captivate both loyal fans and new readers alike.
As teenagers in Lagos, Ifemelu and Obinze fall in love. Their Nigeria is under military dictatorship, and people are fleeing the country if they can. The self-assured Ifemelu departs for America. There she suffers defeats and triumphs, finds and loses relationships, all the while feeling the weight of something she never thought of back home: race. Obinze had hoped to join her, but post 9/11 America will not let him in, and he plunges into a dangerous, undocumented life in London.
Thirteen years later, Obinze is a wealthy man in a newly democratic Nigeria, while Ifemelu has achieved success as a blogger. But after so long apart and so many changes, will they find the courage to meet again, face to face? Fearless, gripping, spanning three continents and numerous lives, the National Book Critics Circle Award-winning Americanah is a richly told story of love and expectation set in today’s globalised world.
₵150.00 -
Pleasantview
Winner of the 2022 OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature. Winner of the 2022 CLMP Firecracker Award in Fiction. Shortlisted for the Society of Authors’ McKitterick Prize 2022
Coconut trees. Carnival. Rum and coke. To many outsiders, these and other sunny images are all they know about life in the Caribbean. However, if you want to learn how the locals truly live and experience the dark and often harrowing truths that lurk behind the idyllic imagery of Caribbean culture, then come visit the town of Pleasantview.
Come during election season, and see how one candidate sets out to slaughter endangered turtles- just for fun. Or come on the day the other candidate beats his outside woman,’ so badly she ends up losing their baby. Then come on the night of the political rally, where this grieving woman exacts very public revenge. Stay a while, and see how this single event has a trajectory far beyond the lives of the immediate actors, with often tragic and heartbreaking consequences.
Written in a remarkable combination of Standard English and Trinidad Creole. Pleasantview showcases the entrenched political, racial, patriarchal, and class dichotomies of life in Trinidad.
₵150.00Pleasantview
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The Beautiful Side of the Moon
It is just a regular day at the office until IT worker Osaretin finds a cryptic note on his desk that sends his day into overdrive, thrusting him into a frantic world of ruthless operatives, shape-shifting villains, portable time turners and futuristic landscapes.Looming over this magical tale are the exploits of a father he barely knew. Osaretin has no choice but to come into his own. Armed with the promise of magical powers and a bunch of eccentric companions, Osaretin must defeat the rampaging forces that threaten all that he holds dear. But is Osaretin who they believe he is? Is he really The One?The Beautiful Side of the Moon is a fantastical adventure filled with weird and wonderful characters and richly-imagined landscapes. A flight of the imagination on every page.₵135.00The Beautiful Side of the Moon
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The Ones We Find
Age Range: 15+ years
Available from 11th October, 2023
Something Happened Last Night…
Five years ago, a chance meeting with Femi Uzoechi changed Marilyn’s life. Except for the part she keeps under lock and key in her house of cards. The line between her past and the one she wanted was long drawn in the sand. But all that changed on the eve of her wedding.
When an urgent call drags Marilyn to work on her day off, a cryptic conversation with Femi leaves her with unanswered questions. ‘Something happened last night,’ he says.
Hours later, Femi is dead.
An accident? Suicide? Murder? The police see no foul play. Neither does Femi’s TV-famous widow. But Marilyn can’t shake off those haunting words. As she digs up the graves of Femi’s past in pursuit of the truth, the cracks in her own life begin to surface, threatening to send everything she’s built crumbling down. Every thread she unravels takes her a step closer to the scattered pieces of the girl she left behind, a crossroads she can no longer evade, and a killer with nothing to lose.₵100.00The Ones We Find
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One Chance Dance
A heartwarming, exciting story of friendship, wonder and dance from Waterstones Prize-shortlisted author Efua Traoré!
Jomi’s mum left when he was little to make a new life for them in Lagos, the city of dreams. When Jomi doesn’t hear from her, he decides to follow. His only starting place is a TV dance competition that his mum used to love.
Things go badly for the boy and his pet bushbaby, until he meets a crew of street kids. Together, they come up with a one-chance idea to find Jomi’s mother – and make their own dreams come true.
- A brand new novel full of joy and wonder by the author of Children of the Quicksands, shortlisted for the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize
- A contemporary adventure of destiny, friendship and dance set in the vibrant city of Lagos, Nigeria
- Jomi hopes to find his missing mum by dancing on a TV talent show in a story which offers emotional pull and a lot of fun!
PRAISE FOR CHILDREN OF THE QUICKSANDS:
‘A joy of a book: rich, warm, powerful storytelling’ KATHERINE RUNDELL
‘A thrilling adventure bright with the gorgeous colours of Nigeria – glorious!’ JASBINDER BILAN
‘An excellent book … rich in tradition and realism.’ HANNAH GOLD
‘[A] beautifully evoked story’ THE TELEGRAPH
₵110.00One Chance Dance
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Shigidi and the Brass Head of Obalufon
The debut fantasy novel from an award-winning Nigerian author presents a mythic tale of disgruntled gods, revenge, and a heist across two worlds
Shigidi is a disgruntled and demotivated nightmare god in the Orisha spirit company, reluctantly answering prayers of his few remaining believers to maintain his existence long enough to find his next drink. When he meets Nneoma, a sort-of succubus with a long and secretive past, everything changes for him.
Together, they attempt to break free of his obligations and the restrictions that have bound him to his godhood and navigate the parameters of their new relationship in the shadow of her past. But the elder gods that run the Orisha spirit company have other plans for Shigidi, and they are not all aligned–or good.
From the boisterous streets of Lagos to the swanky rooftop bars of Singapore and the secret spaces of London, Shigidi and Nneoma will encounter old acquaintances, rival gods, strange creatures, and manipulative magicians as they are drawn into a web of revenge, spirit business, and a spectacular heist across two worlds that will change Shigidi’s understanding of himself forever and determine the fate of the Orisha spirit company.
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Wish Maker
Age Range: 12 years and above
Ebele wishes more than anything to make Christmas with his widowed mother memorable with lots of gifts. With his mother barely able to afford food and the harsh ridicule of his friends, Ebele is disheartened. When a strange man comes to town, the boy opens his heart and home reluctantly. In return, the stranger teaches him there is more to Christmas than just gifts, and that kindness is a virtue rewarded by great fortune.
₵80.00Wish Maker
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Rose and the Burma Sky
A gripping and intimate historical novel of a black soldier’s experience in the Second World War – a rare and moving tale of love and sacrifice.
One war, one soldier, one enduring love
1939: In a village in south-east Nigeria on the brink of the Second World War, young Obi watches from a mango tree as a colonial army jeep speeds by, filled with soldiers laughing and shouting, their buttons shining in the sun. To Obi, their promise of a smart uniform and regular wages is hard to resist, especially as he has his sweetheart Rose to impress and a family to support.
Years later, when Rose falls pregnant to another man, his heart is shattered. As the Burma Campaign mounts, and Obi is shipped out to fight, he is haunted by the mystery of Rose’s lover. When his identity comes to light, Obi’s devastation leads to a tragic chain of unexpected events.
In Rose and the Burma Sky, Rosanna Amaka weaves together the realities of war, the pain of first love and how following your heart might not always be the best course of action. Its gritty boy’s-eye view brings a spare and impassioned intensity, charging it with universal resonance and power.
₵150.00Rose and the Burma Sky
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Don’t Answer When They Call Your Name
In her latest novel, Ukamaka Olisakwe blends myths and magic to introduce readers to an enchanting, spectral world where a young girl and her dog must change the destiny of an ill-fated community.
When the streams suddenly run dry in Ani Mmadu, the people know it is time to atone for a sin that goes back to the very beginning of their world, the consequence of one woman’s rebellion against the all-powerful and unforgiving, jealous god. To avert this catastrophe and for the waters to flow and nourish the farms again, the people must send an Aja—a child chosen by the Oracle—into the Forest of Iniquity, to atone for that great Sin. It falls on young Adanne to save her people this time. But the Ajas sent into the dreaded forest tend never to return. Is Adanne the long-awaited one who will buck the trend and end her people’s suffering?
Don’t Answer When They Call Your Name is an extraordinary novel bursting with kaleidoscopic worlds and beings. It is a feat of the imagination from a born storyteller.
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Wake Me When I’m Gone
Everyone says that Ese is the most beautiful woman in the region, but a fool. A young widow, she lives in a village, where the crops grow tall and the people are ruled over by a Chief on a white horse. She married for love, but now her husband is dead, leaving her with nothing but a market stall and a young son to feed.When the Chief knocks on Ese’s door demanding that she marry again, as the laws of the land dictate she must, Ese is a fool once more. There is a high price for breaking the law, and an even greater cost for breaking the heart of a Chief. Ese will face the wrath of gods and men in the fight to preserve her heart, to keep her son and to right centuries of wrongs. She will change the lives of many on the road to freedom, and she will face the greatest pain a mother ever can.
Wake Me When I’m Gone is a story of curses broken, and lives remade, of great tragedy and incredible rebirth. In this, his second novel, Nigerian writer Odafe Atogun unfolds a world rich with tradition and folklore, a world filled with incredible people of remarkable strength, a world that is changing fast.
₵125.00Wake Me When I’m Gone
₵125.00