Longlisted for the Booker Prize 2023
Ayobami Adebayo,the Women's Prize-shortlisted author of Stay With Me,unveils a dazzling story of modern Nigeria and two families caught in the riptides of wealth,power,romantic obsession and political corruption.
Eniola is tall for his age,a boy who looks like a man. His father has lost his job,so Eniola spends his days running errands for the local tailor,collecting newspapers and begging,dreaming of a big future.
Wuraola is a golden girl,the perfect child of a wealthy family. Now an exhausted young doctor in her first year of practice,she is beloved by Kunle,the volatile son of family friends.
When a local politician takes an interest in Eniola and sudden violence shatters a family party,Wuraola and Eniola's lives become intertwined. In this breathtaking novel,Ayobami Adebayo shines her light on Nigeria,on the gaping divide between the haves and the have-nots,and the shared humanity that lives in between.
Publisher: Canongate BooksISBN: 9781838856045Number of pages: 352Weight: 464 gDimensions: 220 x 144 x 33 mmEdition: Main
MEDIA REVIEWS
Praise for Stay With Me:
'Scorching,gripping,ultimately lovely'- Margaret Atwood
'A thoroughly contemporary style that is all her own...clever and funny...despite the intense sadness of her subject matter,she has produced a bright,big-hearted demonstration of female spirit,as well as the damage done by the boundlessness of male pride'- Guardian
'Has a remarkable emotional resonance and depth of field...(Adebayo) is an exceptional storyteller. She writes not just with extraordinary grace but with genuine wisdom about love and loss and the possibility of redemption. She has written a powerfully magnetic and heartbreaking book'- New York Times
'This terrific first novel...deals with the daily stresses of living with the political upheavals of the time but the real drama is happening in Yejide's womb. Adebayo unfolds the many layers of truth with insight and skill'- The Times
'One of the must-reads books of the year so far: Stay With Me has it all,including big themes of love,grief and jealousy,a fantastic female protagonist plus it reads like a page-turning thriller'- Stylist
'Affecting and powerful...Adebayo's prose is a pleasure: immediate,unpretentious and flecked with whip-smart Nigerian-English dialogue'- Sunday Times
'This deeply impressive novel of infertility,loneliness and longing is the first by the hotly-tipped Adebayo and it packs a tremendous punch'- Daily Mail
'This confident and fearless writer challenges us to think about marriage from all perspectives in her first novel...Stay With Me is the closely observed,heartbreaking and original tale of the desperate attempts we make to save ourselves from severing the very bonds that make us'- Elle
'This impressive debut creates,in deceptively simple prose,a portrait of a marriage in crisis in a deeply patriarchal and oppressive society'- Mail on Sunday
'This tale of a Nigerian couple under familial pressure to conceive is a subtle and unsentimental triumph...A tale of real complexity and humanity,part psychological observation and social study'- Financial Times
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