First published 1994
Obi Okonkwo returns from England with a university degree and dreams of transforming his homeland. As a new civil servant in Lagos, he faces impossible pressures: his family expects financial support, government bureaucracy demands absolute integrity, and traditional Igbo culture clashes with colonial expectations. Corruption tempts him at every turn—a bribe here, a shortcut there—while his community watches and judges. When personal needs collide with professional ethics, Obi must decide whether survival means compromise or maintaining impossible standards. His choices will ripple far beyond his own life, testing the fragile boundary between individual desire and communal survival.
Genres: fiction, 20th-century, african-literature, contemporary
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: ethical-dilemma, fish-out-of-water
Setting: Nigeria
Period: 20th-Century
194 pages · Paperback · Penguin Books