Why a Booktrail?
2000s: There’s two sides to every city – Lagos is no exception
The Spider King’s Daughter
What you need to know before your trail
Seventeen-year-old Abike Johnson is the favourite child of her wealthy father. She lives in a sprawling mansion in Lagos, protected by armed guards and ferried everywhere in a huge black jeep. But being her father’s favourite comes with uncomfortable duties, and she is often lonely behind the high walls of her house.
A world away from Abike’s mansion, in the city’s slums, lives a seventeen-year-old hawker struggling to make sense of the world. His family lost everything after his father’s death and now he runs after cars on the roadside selling ice cream to support his mother and sister.
When Abike buys ice cream from the hawker one day, they strike up an unlikely and tentative romance, defying the prejudices of Nigerian society. But as they grow closer, revelations from the past threaten their relationship and both Abike and the hawker must decide where their loyalties lie.
Travel Guide
Travel BookTrail style to the city of Lagos with The Spider Kings Daughter
Two people can live in the same city and have a very different experience of that city. This novel reveals many varied aspects of life in Lagos. The haves and the have nots. One character lives on one side of the city and the other lives across the divide in every sense of the word. This is the city where a street hawker and an aristocrat find romance. Two sides of the social divide meet in a city designed to keep the rich and the poor as far apart as possible.
Abike lives like royalty in a Lagos palace.She lives in luxury and style. Runner G however has to wade through piles of refuge and rubbish to get to his tiny Mile 12 flat. They have little space as he shares the home with his sister and his mother who suffers from depression
Lagos is a city with around 20, 000 people per square kilometre, so it’s only a matter of time before two very different lives crash into one another. And crash they do – the city of Lagos is painted with strong brush strokes of many colours, shades and strengths. A vivid picture of a city of haves and have nots is evoked with style.
BookTrail Boarding Pass: The Spider King’s Daughter
Destination: Lagos Author/guide: Chibundu Onuzo Departure Time: 2000s
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