From Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀, the celebrated author of Stay with Me, comes A Spell of Good Things, a captivating story that follows two families of opposite fortune and the tragedy that will connect them forever. A history professor loses his job to government cuts and a new education plan. His son, Ẹniọlá, spurred by his father’s misfortunes, dreams of studying engineering to change his family’s fate. But as months pass by and his father is still unable to find work, Ẹniọlá will watch his dreams of higher education slip away as his family plummets into the depths of poverty with no clear way out. While his father sinks deeper into devastation and his mother struggles to put food on the table, Ẹniọlá begins his quest to pay his school fees, leading him from a job running errands for a local tailor to begging in the streets, to ultimately being recruited into the ranks of a powerful local politician offering quick money for a job he won’t understand until it’s too late. A woman orders a dress from her local tailor and polishes her gold jewelry, preparing for her fiftieth birthday celebration, which will bring her family together from far and wide. Her daughter Wúràọlá, an overworked young doctor, will be returning from her understaffed and underfunded hospital to meet the equally fast-paced, high-pressure environment of her family home. Wúràọlá is approaching thirty and expected to be married to a man her parents approve of, someone like Kúnlé, the prosperous son of their closest family friends. Unbeknownst to her, Kúnlé’s volatile love and his father’s political ambitions will send Wúràọlá down a dangerous course that threatens her family and everything she holds dear. Ẹniọlá and Wúràọlá’s paths will converge in this unforgettable and electrifying tale of love and family, revealing the inextricable connection between the haves and have-nots in modern Nigeria. The following questions are designed to accompany your reading of A Spell of Good Things. We hope they spark thoughtful reflection, encourage riveting discussion and enrich your experience of this gripping work by Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀.
From Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀, the celebrated author of Stay with Me, comes A Spell of Good Things, a captivating story that follows two families of opposite fortune and the tragedy that will connect them forever. A history professor loses his job to government cuts and a new education plan. His son, Ẹniọlá, spurred by his father’s misfortunes, dreams of studying engineering to change his family’s fate. But as months pass by and his father is still unable to find work, Ẹniọlá will watch his dreams of higher education slip away as his family plummets into the depths of poverty with no clear way out. While his father sinks deeper into devastation and his mother struggles to put food on the table, Ẹniọlá begins his quest to pay his school fees, leading him from a job running errands for a local tailor to begging in the streets, to ultimately being recruited into the ranks of a powerful local politician offering quick money for a job he won’t understand until it’s too late. A woman orders a dress from her local tailor and polishes her gold jewelry, preparing for her fiftieth birthday celebration, which will bring her family together from far and wide. Her daughter Wúràọlá, an overworked young doctor, will be returning from her understaffed and underfunded hospital to meet the equally fast-paced, high-pressure environment of her family home. Wúràọlá is approaching thirty and expected to be married to a man her parents approve of, someone like Kúnlé, the prosperous son of their closest family friends. Unbeknownst to her, Kúnlé’s volatile love and his father’s political ambitions will send Wúràọlá down a dangerous course that threatens her family and everything she holds dear. Ẹniọlá and Wúràọlá’s paths will converge in this unforgettable and electrifying tale of love and family, revealing the inextricable connection between the haves and have-nots in modern Nigeria. The following questions are designed to accompany your reading of A Spell of Good Things. We hope they spark thoughtful reflection, encourage riveting discussion and enrich your experience of this gripping work by Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀.