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HarperVoyager
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London SE1 9GF
First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers 2018
Copyright © Nnedi Okorafor 2018
Jacket design by Micaela Alcaino © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2018
Jacket photography/illustration © Historical image collection by Bildagentur-online/Alamy Stock Photo (bird), © Paper Boat Creative/Getty images (hands), © Shutterstock.com (sun, flaps)
Cover design © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2018
Nnedi Okorafor asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
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Source ISBN: 9780008288709
Ebook Edition © March 2018 ISBN: 9780008288723
Version: 2018-02-13
To my amazing father, Dr. Godwin Sunday Daniel Okoroafor, M.D., F.A.C.S. (1940-2004).
“Dear friends, are you afraid of death?”
—Patrice Lumumba, first and only elected
Prime Minister of the Republic of the Congo
Contents
Copyright
Dedication
Epigraph
Part I: Becoming
Chapter 1: My Father’s Face
Chapter 2: Papa
Chapter 3: Interrupted Conversation
Chapter 4: Eleventh Year Rite
Chapter 5: The One Who is Calling
Chapter 6: Eshu
Chapter 7: Lessons Learned
Chapter 8: Lies
Chapter 9: Nightmare
Chapter 10: Ndiichie
Chapter 11: Luyu’s Determination
Chapter 12: A Vulture’s Arrogance
Chapter 13: Ani’s Sunshine
Chapter 14: The Storyteller
Chapter 15: The House of Osugbo
Chapter 16: Ewu
Chapter 17: Full Circle
Part II: Student
Chapter 18: A Welcome Visit to Aro’s Hut
Chapter 19: The Man in Black
Chapter 20: Men
Chapter 21: Gadi
Chapter 22: Peace
Chapter 23: Bushcraft
Chapter 24: Onyesonwu in the Market
Chapter 25: And So It Was Decided
Part III: Warrior
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60: Who Fears Death?
Epilogue
Chapter 61: Peacock