BOOK DISCUSSION DATE AND TIME: TUESDAY, AUGUST12, 2014 AT 11:00 AM
Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani was born in Enugu, Nigeria. She earned her very
first income from winning a writing competition at the age of thirteen.
As a teenager, she secretly dreamed of becoming a CIA or KGB spy. She
ended up studying Psychology at the University of Ibadan instead. She
lives in Abuja, Nigeria. I Do Not Come to You by Chance is her first novel. (Hyperion)
A deeply moving debut novel set amid the perilous world of Nigerian email scams, I Do Not Come to You by Chance tells the story of one young man and the family who loves him.
Being the opera of the family, Kingsley Ibe is entitled to certain privileges?a piece of meat in his egusi
soup, a party to celebrate his graduation from university. As first
son, he has responsibilities, too. But times are bad in Nigeria, and
life is hard. Unable to find work, Kingsley cannot take on the duty of
training his younger siblings, nor can he provide his parents with
financial peace in their retirement. And then there is Ola. Dear, sweet
Ola, the sugar in Kingsley?s tea. It does not seem to matter that he
loves her deeply; he cannot afford her bride price.
It hasn?t always been like this. For much of his young life, Kingsley
believed that education was everything, that through wisdom, all things
were possible. Now he worries that without a ?long-leg??someone who
knows someone who can help him?his degrees will do nothing but adorn the
walls of his parents? low-rent house. And when a tragedy befalls his
family, Kingsley learns the hardest lesson of all: education may be the
language of success in Nigeria, but it?s money that does the talking.
Unconditional family support may be the way in Nigeria, but when
Kingsley turns to his Uncle Boniface for help, he learns that charity
may come with strings attached. Boniface?aka Cash Daddy?is an exuberant
character who suffers from elephantiasis of the pocket. He?s also
rumored to run a successful empire of email scams. But he can help. With
Cash Daddy?s intervention, Kingsley and his family can be as safe as a
tortoise in its shell. It?s up to Kingsley now to reconcile his passion
for knowledge with his hunger for money, and to fully assume his role of
first son. But can he do it without being drawn into this outlandish
mileu? (Hyperion)
