As with her lauded debut Stay With Me, in Ayòbámi Adébáyò’s second novel domestic strife and the political tensions of modern Nigeria bristle against each other. Early in A Spell of Good Things, we encounter the protagonist Eniolá’s father staring at an almost empty tin of garri. Racked with shame at the poverty his family Read More…
Book Review by Olatoun Gabi-Williams It is 1941. We are in the Yoruba town of Owo, a model colonial town in southwest Nigeria. Can you hear it? The British army’s bugle? It is blowing. Dispirited by academic scores too low for the exalted studies of his dreams, Isaac Fadoyebo is almost 18 when he joins Read More…
Review by Olatoun Gabi-Williams The Woman Next Door is Yewande Omotoso’s comically dark second novel published in 2016 by Random House, South Africa and by Farafina in Nigeria. The story unfolds in what appears to be the first decade of the 21st century against a backdrop of a South Africa in the throes of being Read More…
Review by Olatoun Gabi-Williams The Meursault Investigation” is the dark wonderland Kamel Daoud has created as a searing rejoinder to L’Etranger”, probably the most famous of Albert Camus’ novels. If Camus rejected the word “existentialism” to define his novels, Daoud surely does not. Dealing extravagantly in the currency of existentialism, “The Meursault Investigation” must be Read More…
Review by Olatoun Gabi-Williams Up until “A Woman Alone”, I had not read any of Bessie Head’s books. The image I carried of one of Africa’s finest writers was not of a producer of literary works but of a mixed-race woman in a black-and-white photograph. Her swarthy face would be matronly were it not for Read More…
By Olatoun Gabi-Williams To view it as beautifully written prayer guidelines would be to undersell its 249 pages. From the Acknowledgements, Preface, foreword, and Introduction, through the 14 chapters, epilogue, references, and End notes, what the author, Abisola Gabi-Williams, has produced is an inspired tapestry of doctrine combined with a prayer manual and fused with Read More…
In the latest instalment of the Gabriel Allon series by Daniel Silva, the former Israeli intelligence agent returns to the forefront in an electrifying and uncompromising thriller. The story revolves around the hunt for a valuable missing painting, which leads Gabriel to team up with the cunning General Cesare Ferrari of the Italian Art Squad. Read More…
Harriet and Wyn, once considered the epitome of a perfect couple, have experienced an unexpected rift in their relationship. Despite their breakup six months ago, they have chosen to keep it a secret from their closest friends. Now, as they gather at their cherished Maine cottage, a beloved tradition for their friend group over the Read More…
Part 1 of Keith Hart’s Self in the World is entitled Ancestors. It is divided into three chapters – Writing the Self: A Genealogy, Anthropology’s Forgotten Founders and The Anti-Colonial Intellectuals: Thinking New Worlds. The men he profiles here are his heroes (where are the women?). In their various fields, these personalities are world-renowned for Read More…
Written by Sarah Ladipo Manyika, and published in 2022 by Footnote Press, Between Starshine and Clay is a composition of encounters with 11 living and 1 deceased titan of modern history. Manyika, a British/Nigerian/American writer, has produced magnificent word portraits of these 12 luminaries. The spirit emanating from each portrait evokes the abundance of images Read More…
