Why a Booktrail?
2000s: Three friends of Nigerian/London heritage have lunch. Then a blast from the past arrives and everything changes.
Wahala
What you need to know before your trail
Ronke, Simi, Boo are three mixed-race friends living in London. They have the gift of two cultures, Nigerian and English, though not all of them choose to see it that way.
Everyday racism has never held them back, but now in their thirties, they question their future. Ronke wants a husband (he must be Nigerian); Boo enjoys (correction: endures) stay-at-home motherhood; while Simi, full of fashion career dreams, rolls her eyes as her boss refers to her urban vibe yet again.
When Isobel, a lethally glamorous friend from their past arrives in town, she is determined to fix their futures for them.
Cracks in their friendship begin to appear, and it is soon obvious Isobel is not sorting but wrecking. When she is driven to a terrible act, the women are forced to reckon with a crime in their past that may just have repeated itself.
Locations
ResetTravel Guide
BookTrail London Wahala style
The author says: “WAHALA is in part, my love story to London, the wonderful city I lived and worked in for twenty years. Many of the settings in the book are hugely personal. The Peace Pagoda, where Ronke finally pieces things together in chapter thirty-four, is one of my favourite spots in London. ”
“Simi’s apartment in The Circle, Tower Bridge is a grander version of the tiny flat my husband lived in when we first started dating.”
” I used to live in East Dulwich (in a flat that might appear in book two) and often, on a Saturday, I’d wonder down Peckham High Street, or “little Nigeria” as I used to call it, to stock up on essential ingredients like yam, egusi, scotch bonnets and ewedu. The ethnic shops along there are fabulous – almost as good as being in a Lagos market.”
BookTrail Boarding Pass: Wahala
Destination: London Author/guide: Nikki May Departure Time: 2000s
Back to ResultsWhere Next?
