“Storylines and twists abound. But action is secondary to
atmosphere: Onuzo excels at evoking a stratified city, where society
weddings feature ‘ice sculptures as cold as the unmarried belles’
and thugs write tidy receipts for kickbacks extorted from homeless
travelers.” —The New Yorker
When army officer
Chike Ameobi is ordered to kill innocent civilians, he knows it is
time to desert his post. As he travels toward Lagos with Yemi, his
junior officer, and into the heart of a political scandal involving
Nigeria’s education minister, Chike becomes the leader of a new
platoon, a band of runaways who share his desire for a different kind
of life. Among them is Fineboy, a fighter with a rebel group,
desperate to pursue his dream of becoming a radio DJ; Isoken, a
16–year–old girl whose father is thought to have been killed by
rebels; and the beautiful Oma, escaping a wealthy, abusive husband.
Full of humor and
heart, Welcome to Lagos is a high–spirited novel about
aspirations and escape, innocence and corruption. It offers a
provocative portrait of contemporary Nigeria that marks the arrival
in the United States of an extraordinary young writer.