This British-Nigerian debut, part boarding-school story and part Igbo metaphysics, is about the strange, otherworldly experiences of two friends, Ozoemena and Treasure, in a school in upcountry Nigeria. The two meet following family tragedies. When Treasure’s father dies, her family loses everything to grasping uncles. One day she meets a spirit who promises to bring her father back if she agrees to help it. And in exchange for finding it “wives”, the spirit will also bring her material goods. It’s a tempting offer, as the family owes rent and has barely any money for provisions. We are not surprised when she agrees.
In a somewhat similar vein, her friend Ozoemena’s alternative identity as a leopard arises from the murder of her uncle Odiogo. Odiogo had been a vessel for the leopard spirit; after his death, a new receptacle is needed to continue the family tradition. This spirit is part of the mythology of a secret Igbo sect that worships the goddess Idemili, previously introduced to non-Igbos by Chinua Achebe in the novels Arrow of God and Anthills of the Savannah. “Soon you will become the thing that all other beasts of the night fear,” the deity’s priest tells Ozoemena, when he announces her new avatar.
