Chronic corruption and poor investment in health and education are responsible for many of Nigeria’s woes. Set in Osun state in the early 00s, Ayòbámi Adébáyò’s compelling second novel explores the country’s inequalities and contradictions.
A Spell of Good Things interweaves the fates of two families and describes how political failings affect their lives and lead to personal tragedy. Yèyé, the matriarch of a well-off middle-class household, recognises that good fortune is precarious: “Life was war, a series of battles with the occasional spell of good things.” She hoards her gold jewellery and dreams of marrying her eldest daughter, Wúràolá, an exhausted resident doctor, to their friends’ son, Kúnlé.
