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Some of my favourite Nigerian books, including Sefi Atta’s Everything Good Will Come, are set in Lagos. However, Lagos, with its chaos and diverse culture, often takes the spotlight in Nigerian literature. The good news is that the richness of Nigerian stories extends far beyond this city, which houses more than 15 million people.
From the deeply communal villages in southeastern Nigeria to the historic towns of the southwest and the northern regions of the country, Nigerian authors have captured the essence of many cities and towns beyond Lagos. In our latest book recommendation, we have compiled a list of seven books that will take you outside Lagos. These selections offer glimpses into other parts of Nigeria, guiding readers on a journey through the various settings that shape the nation’s socio-cultural life.
Read our recommendations below.
BORN ON A TUESDAY
AUTHOR: ELNATHAN JOHN
GENRE: FICTION
In far northwestern Nigeria, Dantala lives among a gang of street boys who sleep under a kuka tree. During the election, the boys are paid by the ‘small’ party to cause trouble. When their attempt to burn down the opposition’s local headquarters ends in disaster, Dantala must run for his life, leaving his best friend behind. He makes his way to a mosque that provides him with food, shelter, and guidance. With his quick aptitude and modest nature, Dantala becomes a favoured apprentice to the mosque’s sheikh. However, he is faced with a terrible conflict of loyalties, as one of the sheikh’s closest advisors begins to raise his own radical movement. When bloodshed erupts in the city around him, Dantala must decide what kind of Muslim—and what kind of man—he wants to be. Told in Dantala’s voice, Born on a Tuesday explores the ways in which young men are seduced by religious fundamentalism and violence. Buy this book here.
SEASON OF CRIMSON BLOSSOMS
Author: ABUBAKAR ADAM IBRAHIM
Genre: FICTION
An affair between a 55-year-old widow, Binta Zubairu, and a 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 hardship 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. Set in Jos, Plateau State, Abubakar Adam Ibrahim’s book is a story of love and longing—set against undercurrents of political violence—unfurls gently, revealing layers of emotion that defy age, class and religion. Buy this book here.
Cassava Republic Press is proud to announce the launch of their inaugural $20,000 Global Black Women’s Non-Fiction Manuscript Prize dedicated to exceptional works by Black women. Deadline: 30th June 2024. Learn more here.
STAY WITH ME
AUTHOR: AYỌ̀BÁMI ADÉBÁYỌ̀
GENRE: FICTION
Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀’s debut novel follows Yejide and Akin who have been married since they met and fell in love at university. Though many expected Akin to take several wives, he and Yejide have always agreed: polygamy is not for them. But four years into their marriage—after consulting fertility doctors and healers—Yejide is still not pregnant. She assumes she still has time—until her family arrives on her doorstep with a young woman they introduce as Akin’s second wife. Furious, shocked, and livid with jealousy, Yejide knows the only way to save her marriage is to get pregnant, which, finally, she does—but at a cost far greater than she could have dared to imagine. Set in Ilesa, Osun State, Stay With Me asks how much we can sacrifice for the sake of family.
THE MECHANICS OF YENAGOA
AUTHOR: MICHAEL AFENFIA
GENRE: FICTION
Ebinimi, star mechanic of Kalakala Street, is a man with a knack for getting in and out of trouble. Some of his troubles are self-inflicted: like his recurring entanglements in love triangles; and his unauthorized joyriding of a customer’s car which sets off a chain of dire events involving drugs, crooked politicians, and assassins. Other troubles are caused by the panorama of characters in his life, like: his sister and her dysfunctional domestic situation; the three other mechanics he employs; and the money-loving preacher who has all but taken over his home. This is Ebinimi’s story but it is about a lot more than him. It is an exploration of the dynamics between working-class people as they undertake a colourful tour of Yenagoa in Bayelsa State, one of Nigeria’s lesser-known cities, while using humour, sex, and music, as coping mechanisms for the everyday struggle.
DAUGHTERS WHO WALK THIS PATH
AUTHOR: YEJIDE KILANKO
GENRE: FICTION
Spirited and intelligent, Morayo grows up surrounded by school friends and family in modern-day Ibadan, Oyo State. An adoring little sister, their traditional parents, and a host of aunties and cousins make Morayo’s home their own. So there’s nothing unusual about her charming but troubled cousin Bros T moving in with the family. At first Morayo and her sister are delighted, but in her innocence, nothing prepares Morayo for the shameful secret Bros T forces upon her. Thrust into a web of oppressive silence woven by the adults around her, Morayo must learn to fiercely protect herself and her sister from a legacy of silence many women in Morayo’s family share. In Yejide Kilanko’s book, only Aunty Morenike—once shielded by her own mother—provides Morayo with a safe home and a sense of female community that sustains her as she grows into a young woman in bustling, politically charged, often violent Nigeria.
THE FISHERMEN
AUTHOR: CHIGOZIE OBIOMA
GENRE: FICTION
Four brothers, Ikenna, Boja, Obembe, and Benjamin, decide to fish at the Omi-Ala river near their home in a quiet neighbourhood of Akure, Nigeria, despite their parents’ strict warnings against it due to the river’s heavy pollution. During one of their forbidden fishing trips, they encounter Abulu, a local madman, who begins shouting Ikenna’s name. The other children flee, but the brothers stay to listen as Abulu makes a series of ominous prophecies: that Ikenna will become blind, mute, and crippled. He ends by foretelling that Ikenna will be killed by a fisherman. Interpreting this to mean that one of his brothers will kill him, Ikenna gradually becomes paranoid and turns against them. This prophecy begins to unravel the family and shatters the dreams their parents held for them. Narrated from the perspective of nine-year-old Benjamin, the youngest brother, The Fishermen by Chigozie Obioma is a Cain and Abel-esque tale of an unforgettable childhood in 1990s Nigeria, set in the small town of Akure.
UNDER THE UDALA TREES
AUTHOR: CHINELO OKPARANTA
GENRE: FICTION
In Chinelo Okparanta’s novel, Ijeoma comes of age as her nation does; born before independence, she is eleven when civil war breaks out in Nigeria. Sent away to safety, she meets another displaced child and they, star-crossed, fall in love. They are from different ethnic communities. They are also both girls. When their love is discovered, Ijeoma learns that she will have to hide this part of herself. But there is a cost to living inside a lie. Under the Udala Trees uses one woman’s lifetime to examine the ways in which Nigeria struggled to attain selfhood. Set in southeastern Nigeria, this story offers a glimmer of hope—a future where a woman might just be able to shape her life around truth and love.