âGasp in wonderâ Marlon James, author ofBlack Leopard, Red Wolf
âElectrifyingâ Irenosen Okojie, author ofNudibranch
âGasp-inducingâAnOther
âJoyous, defiantâ Caleb Azumah Nelson, author ofOpen Water
âVisionaryâGuardian
is a tumultuous and unexpectedly joyous novel of oppression and defiance among the people and spirits of Lagos.VAGABONDS!
Lagos is a city for all . . . you share this place with flesh and not-flesh, and itâs just as much their city as it is yours.
ĂkĂł, the spirit of Lagos, and his loyal minion Tatafo weave trouble through the streets of Lagos and through the lives of the âvagabondsâ powering modern Nigeria: the queer, the displaced and the footloose.
With Tatafo as our guide we meet these people in the shadows. Among them are a driver for a debauched politician; a lesbian couple whose tender relationship sheds unexpected light on their experience with underground sex work; a mother who attends a secret spiritual gathering that shifts her reality. As their lives begin to intertwineâin markets and underground clubs, in churches and hotel roomsâthe vagabonds are seized and challenged by the spirits who command the city. A force is drawing them all together, but for what purpose?
In her debut novel , Eloghosa Osunde tackles the insidious nature of Nigerian capitalism, corruption and oppression, and offers a defiant, joyous and inventive tribute to all those for whom life itself is a form of resistance.VAGABONDS!
âEvery year promises the birth of the next literary superstar⌠is an exceptional debutâVAGABONDS!i-D
âDazzling, haunting, angular and funnyâTLS
âIf you read one debut novel ⌠this should be itâLos Angeles Times
âGasp-inducing ⌠captures the lives of outsiders with spirit and tendernessâAnOther
âThere is nothing in the world like this bookâ Lesley Nneka Arimah, author ofWhat It Means When A Man Falls From The Sky