Shortlisted for The Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize 2022
Vagabonds! is a tumultuous and unexpectedly joyous novel of oppression and defiance among the people and spirits of Lagos.
Lagos is a city for all... you share this place with flesh and not-flesh,and it's just as much their city as it is yours.
Eko,the spirit of Lagos,and his loyal minion Tatafo weave trouble through the streets of Lagos and through the lives of the'vagabonds'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 intertwine-in markets and underground clubs,in churches and hotel rooms-the 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 Vagabonds! 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.
Publisher: HarperCollins PublishersISBN: 9780008498030Number of pages: 320Weight: 220 gDimensions: 198 x 129 x 19 mm
MEDIA REVIEWS
'You don't read this novel. You swan dive into its sea of gods and monsters,lost girls,violent boys,and well-behaved people both righteous and wicked. And when you finally surface,that sound will be you,gasping in wonder.'- Marlon James,author of A Brief History of Seven Killings
'Some of the most spectacular writing I've ever encountered in my life,her foot rests firmly on my neck,and Vagabonds! brought me to tears because it gave me a world in which my country could be home again.'- Akwaeke Emezi,author of Freshwater
'Full of surprising,tender,biting language,Eloghosa Osunde's Vagabonds! sets a stage where gods play personal games with human lives...this novel astounded me'- Dantiel W. Moniz,author of Milk Blood Heat
'A triumph. In Vagabonds! you will discover queer people finding ways to love each other in a society that outlaws queerness,and an explosive portrait of Nigeria that will blow your mind-in prose that feels so alive it practically vibrates off the page. A masterpiece.'- Lidia Yuknavitch,author of The Book of Joan
'Vagabonds! offers a dazzling,hypnotic portrait of lives lived on the margins...the binary of reality and fantasy is shattered in poetic,kaleidoscopic color. In the roots of the city of Lagos... remains an unfettered truth: there is community even - especially - for the displaced,and in the struggle of outsiders lives the most radical potential for hope.'- T Kira Madden,author of Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls
'A feast of a book,a marvelous ode to spirits and outsiders that is irreverent (and painfully funny) while being serious enough to drill a hole in one's chest. There is nothing in the world like this book'- Lesley Nneka Arimah,author of What It Means When A Man Falls From The Sky
Eloghosa Osunde
Eloghosa Osunde is an award-winning Nigerian short story writer and visual artist,whose first novel Vagabonds! was shortlisted for the inaugural Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize 2022.
Visit the Eloghosa Osunde author page
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