12 Utterly Captivating Novels by Nigerian Authors to Add to Your TBR

After word gets out on the Internet that aliens have landed in the waters outside of the world’s fifth most populous city, chaos ensues. Soon the military, religious leaders, thieves, and crackpots are trying to control the message on YouTube and on the streets. Meanwhile, the earth’s political superpowers are considering a preemptive nuclear launch to eradicate the intruders. All that stands between seventeen million anarchic residents and death is an alien ambassador, a biologist, a rapper, a soldier, and a myth that may be the size of a giant spider, or a god revealed. 

Korede mostly keeps to herself—this is prudent when your sister is a serial killer who keeps bumping off her boyfriends and you are helping cover up her crimes. Korede sees taking care of her beautiful, charming, sociopathic sister as her responsibility. So she goes to her job at the hospital, pines after a handsome doctor, and keeps Ayoola from posting pictures to Instagram while she is supposed to be mourning her “missing” boyfriends. But when Korede’s crush asks her for Ayoola’s phone number, she is going to have to decide whether she is willing to protect her sister at the possible expense of his life.  

This debut novel by the author of AMERICANAH follows a pair of privileged siblings living in Nigeria. As the country begins to fall apart under a military coup, the siblings are sent to their aunt, where they discover a life beyond the confines of home. This is an exquisite novel about the emotional turmoil of adolescence, the powerful bonds of family, and the bright promise of freedom. 

In this sweeping, powerful drama of family and identity, living in small-town Utah is a struggle for Tunde Akinola’s family, especially his Nigeria-born parents. As Tunde struggles to fit in at school, his father tirelessly chases the American dream while his lonely mother sinks deeper into schizophrenia. Tunde’s mother eventually abandons them to return to Nigeria and Tunde spends the rest of his childhood and young adulthood searching for connection—to the stepmother and stepbrother he gains when his father remarries; to his middle school’s African American students; and to the fraternity brothers at his historically Black college. 

A true modern classic, Chinua Achebe’s monumental novel encompasses the life of nature, human history, and the mysterious compulsions of the soul. Okonkwo, a wealthy and fearless Igbo warrior of Umuofia in the late 1800s, futilely resists the devaluing of his traditions by British political and religious forces and his despair as his community capitulates to the powerful new order. 

In this feminist classic, Nnu Ego is a Nigerian woman struggling in a patriarchal society. Unable to conceive in her first marriage, Nnu is banished to Lagos where she succeeds in becoming a mother. Then, against the backdrop of World War II, Nnu must fiercely protect herself and her children when she is abandoned by her husband and her people. 

It is 1971 and there is political turmoil in Nigeria, but eleven-year-old Enitan has other concerns. She is worried that her deeply religious mother will forbid her growing friendship with Sheri, the new girl next door. As the two grow up into fiercely intelligent, strong women, the novel explores whether it is better to work within the traditional system or try to tear it down. 

Kingsley Ibe is the first son in his family, which means he has certain responsibilities. His degrees aren’t much help in finding work, but he is expected to take on the training of his younger siblings, support his parents in their retirement, and scrape together money for his beloved sister’s bride price. Without a “long-leg”—someone who knows someone who can help him in his career—Kingsley fears he will never be able to support his family. So he turns to his Uncle Boniface—AKA Cash Daddy—who is rumored to run a successful empire of email scams. 

In this instant New York Times bestseller with a long list of amazing accolades, this debut author spins a fantasy tale inspired by West Africa. Zélie Adebola lives in Orïsha, where magic used to be all around: Burners ignited flames, Tiders beckoned waves, and her Reaper mother summoned souls. But when the ruthless king has all the maji killed and magic disappears, Zélie fights to bring back magic and bring down the monarchy. 

Ada is an unusual child who is a source of deep concern to her southern Nigerian family. She is troubled, prone to violent fits. Born “with one foot on the other side,” she begins to develop separate selves within her as she grows into adulthood. And when she travels to America for college, a traumatic event on campus crystallizes the selves into something powerful and potentially dangerous, making Ada fade into the background of her own mind as these alters―now protective, now hedonistic―move into control. 

Army officer Chike Ameobi abandons his post after being ordered to kill innocent civilians. He is then drawn into the heart of a political scandal involving Nigeria’s education minister. Chike becomes the leader of a band of misfits and runaways who are searching for a different kind of life. Among them is Fineboy, a fighter with a rebel group, hoping to become a radio DJ; Isoken, a sixteen-year-old girl whose father may have been killed by rebels; and Oma, escaping a wealthy, abusive husband. 

Yejide and Akin met and fell in love at university and from the beginning of their marriage they agreed that polygamy is not for them. But after four years of marriage and all sorts of fertility treatments, Yejide isn’t pregnant. Then her in-laws bring over another young woman who will be Akin’s second wife. Shocked, angry, and jealous, Yejide is determined to get pregnant to save her marriage—by any means necessary. But it may come at a cost greater than she ever imagined.