Showing results for "Chibundu Onuzo" in Literary Fiction

Anna is at a stage of her life when she's beginning to wonder who she really is. She has separated from her husband, her daughter is all grown up and her mother—the only parent who raised her—is dead. Searching through her mother's belongings, she finds clues about the West African father she never knew. Through reading his student diary, chronicling his involvement in radical politics in 1970s London, she discovers that he eventually became the president—some would say the dictator—of a small nation in West Africa. And he is still alive.

When army officer Chike Ameobi is ordered to kill innocent civilians, he knows that it is time to leave. As he travels towards Lagos, he becomes the leader of a new platoon, a band of runaways who share his desire for a better life. Their arrival in the city coincides with the eruption of a political scandal. The education minister, Chief Sandayo, has disappeared and is suspected of stealing millions of dollars from government funds.

The Spider King's Daughter is a modern-day Romeo and Juliet set against the backdrop of a changing Lagos, a city torn between tradition and modernity, corruption and truth, love and family loyalty. Seventeen-year-old Abike Johnson is the favourite child of her wealthy father. She lives in a sprawling mansion in Lagos, protected by armed guards and ferried everywhere in a huge black jeep. But being her father's favourite comes with uncomfortable duties, and she is often lonely behind the high walls.

Se Chibundu Onuzo intitola ironicamente il suo secondo romanzo "Benvenuti a Lagos", è perché Lagos a differenza della maggior parte delle altre città, non ha un cartello di benvenuto. Più che a una città infatti si ha accesso a un mondo, vero e proprio microcosmo dove duemila anime, ogni giorno, si riversano dalle campagne per realizzare i propri sogni. Cinque i protagonisti di questa fiaba moderna, tutti in cerca di un nuovo inizo.

Abike Johnson ha 17 anni ed è la figlia prediletta di un importante uomo di affari nigeriano, vive in una grande villa a Lagos, protetta da guardie armate e accompagnata dappertutto con un'enorme jeep nera. Ma essere la figlia prediletta di suo padre implica compiti scomodi, e spesso Abike è sola oltre le impenetrabili mura della sua casa. Lontanissimo dalla villa di Abike, nei bassifondi della città, vive un venditore ambulante di 18 anni che lotta per dare un senso alla propria vita.