Changes

Three people walk along a Lagos beach as the world changes. Adaora is strolling to clear her head and try to understand why her husband hit her earlier tonight. Rap artist Anthony (known to his parents as Edgar) is having a post-gig wander. The third, Agu, is covered in blood. The fact that he's on the beach is immaterial; he just needs help. Then it happens. A boom, a bat falls stunned from the sky and then nothing is the same again. The strangers' futures all become one and the creature arrives; the creature they call Ayodele.

This is a novel about many things lurking beneath the surface excitement centring on monsters. Don't let the layers put you off though – this works very well at face value but there are weft threads of real-life commentary in the finished narrative cloth for those who dare to look more closely. Although the stranger in our midst and the subsequent xenophobia/exploitation is a common theme, Nnedi's version is refreshingly different.