First published 2021
Bambi's girlfriend kicks him out during the pandemic. He travels to his uncle's house in locked-down Lagos, arriving in the middle of a blackout. In the candlelit darkness, he discovers his Aunty Bidemi sitting with a stranger. Both women insist they are the mother of a baby boy sleeping in a nearby crib. Bambi tries to make sense of the impossible situation while the infant's nighttime screaming keeps him awake. During the day, a hostile cockerel patrols the garden and watches him. Strange things begin happening around the house. Sand contaminates their rice. A mysterious blood stain materializes on the wall. Someone carves tribal marks into the baby's face while he sleeps. As Bambi searches for answers, he must determine which woman tells the truth and which one lies about the child's parentage.
Genres: mystery, contemporary, thriller, family-drama
Vibes: atmospheric, intimate, suspenseful
Tropes: unreliable-narrator
Setting: Lagos, Nigeria
Period: pandemic, present-day
107 pages · Paperback · Atlantic Books
Content warnings: anxiety, mental-illness