Allen & Unwin Welcome to Lagos book Fiction English Paperback 256 pages

A powerful and provocative portrait of contemporary Nigeria from a celebrated young novelist.

Five runaways ride the bus from Bayelsa to a better life in a megacity.They are unlikely allies - a private, a housewife, an officer, a militant and a young girl. They share a need for escape and a dream for the future.Soon, they will also share a burden none could have expected. In the city ahead, scandal will fall in their laps and they will have to decide whether to pass on their knowledge or distrust what they've heard. Will they choose morality and truth in the chaos of a city where you have to fight to flourish?For now, the five sit quietly with their hopes, as the billboards fly past and shout:Welcome to Lagos.

Chibundu Onuzo was born in Lagos, Nigeria in 1991. Her first novel, The Spider King's Daughter, won a Betty Trask Award, was shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize and the Commonwealth Book Prize, and was longlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize and the Etisalat Prize for Literature. She is completing a PhD on the West African Student's Union at King's College London