Taduno's Song

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Description

The day a stained brown envelope arrives from Taduno's homeland, he knows that the time has come to return from exile. Back in Nigeria, the musician discovers that his community no longer recognises him, his girlfriend Lela has disappeared, taken away by government agents, and all traces of his old life have been erased. All that is left of him are his own memories. As Taduno begins to unravel the mystery of his lost life he must also face a difficult decision: to sing for love or to sing for his people.

Reviews

The power of music to stir memory and move the hardest heart permeates Taduno's Song . . . I urge people to read this unforgettable new voice, writing in polished prose about how it feels to be silenced -- ANITA SETHI * * Observer * *
This quiet novel is an original. It is as if Odafe Atogun has plunged into the depths of the sea of Nigeria's history and returned with a leviathan, and invited us to see - and be amused, troubled, scared, and even angry. And we cannot help but look -- Chigozie Obioma, Booker-Shortlisted author of THE FISHERMEN
A heartfelt and imaginative story told with sincerity and compassion -- PETINA GAPPAH, author of An Elegy for Easterly and The Book of Memory
Burning with magic and loss, exile and return, beauty and heartache, Taduno's Song is a colossal epic, disguised as a small novel -- MARLON JAMES, Booker Prize-winning author of A Brief History Of Seven Killings
Beautifully written and thoroughly engaging . . . Atogun is a writer with untold potential * * The Student * *
Atogun's debut novel is a dystopian satire in which a retelling of the Orpheus myth is spiced up with fantastical and Kafkaesque elements while also invoking the memory of Nigerian musical icon Fela Kuti. As political as it is, the characters are never reduced to mere cyphers and Atogun keeps us in suspense to the very end * * Glasgow Sunday Herald * *

Author Bio

Odafe Atogun was born in Nigeria, in the town of Lokoja, where the Rivers Niger and Benue meet. Now a full-time writer, he is married and lives in Abuja.