A beautifully moving narrative tells of the entwined lives of three men. Complex and familial relationships and friendships are explored and tested when the joys of success are over-shadowed by a tragedy that affects them all. Although hard hitting, the powerful telling is tender and explores and navigates the deeper meaning of love and the building of a hopeful future from the ashes of grief.
Chibuike toils at the stove, stirring thick porridge, his muscles striving through the difficult thing. He speaks casually, even brusquely. But Ekene has been in his house for six months. He knows Chibuike now. Chibuike acts gruffly, but this is the way with men. Ekene is still young - only seventeen - but he is learning. This is the way with fathers: they have tough exteriors, only because the insides of them are unbearably tender, like flesh under fingernails. Men are like this.
