Prince of Monkeys

A provocative debut novel by a brilliant young Nigerian writer, tackling politics, class, and power as a group of friends come of age in Lagos. Growing up in middle-class Lagos, Nigeria during the late 1980s and early 1990s, Ihechi forms a band of close friends in his neighborhood. They discover Lagos together as teenagers whose differing ideologies come to the fore over everything from film to football, Fela Kuti to God, sex to politics. They remain close-knit until Ihechi's girlfriend, is killed in an anti-government riot. Exiled by his concerned mother, Ihechi moves in with his uncle's family, where he struggles to find himself outside his former circle of friends. Ihechi eventually finds success by leveraging his connection with a notorious prostitution linchpin and political heavyweight, and earning favor among the ruling elite. But just as Ihechi is about to make his final ascent into the elite political class, he encounters his childhood friends and...