Everything Good Will Come introduces an important new voice in
contemporary fiction. With insight and a lyrical wisdom, Nigerian-born
Sefi Atta has written a powerful and eloquent story set in her African
homeland. It is 1971, a year after the Biafran War, and Nigeria is under
military rule--though the politics of the state matter less than those
of her home to Enitan Taiwo, an eleven-year-old girl tired of waiting
for school to start. Will her mother, who has become deeply religious
since the death of Enitan's brother, allow her friendship with the new
girl next door, the brash and beautiful Sheri Bakare? This novel charts
the fate of these two African girls; one who is prepared to manipulate
the traditional system and one who attempts to defy it. Written in the
voice of Enitan, the novel traces this unusual friendship into their
adult lives, against the backdrop of tragedy, family strife, and a
war-torn Nigeria. In the end, Everything Good Will Come is Enitan's
story; one of a fiercely intelligent, strong young woman coming of age
in a culture that still insists on feminine submission. Enitan bucks the
familial and political systems until she is confronted with the one
desire too precious to forfeit in the name of personal freedom: her
desire for a child. Everything Good Will Come evokes the sights and
smells of Africa while imparting a wise and universal story of love,
friendship, prejudice, survival, politics, and the cost of divided
loyalties.
