Author: Helon Habila
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Oil on Water
From the desks of Nigeria’s newsrooms, two journalists are recruited to find the kidnapped wife of a British oil engineer. Zaq, an infamous media hack, knows what’s in store, but Rufus, a keen young journalist eager to get himself noticed, has no idea what he’s let himself in for. Journeying into the oil-rich regions of the Niger Delta, where militants rule and the currency dealt in is the lives of hostages, Rufus soon finds himself acting as intermediary between editor, husband, captive and soldier. As they follow the trail of the missing woman, love for the ‘story’ becomes about much more than just uncovering her whereabouts, and instead becomes a mission to make sense of their own muddled lives. In a cruel twist of fate, Rufus finds himself taking on Zaq’s role much more literally than he ever anticipated, and as the body count rises, and the environment burns, he learns that truth can often be a bitter pill to swallow.
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The Granta Book of the African Short Story
Presenting a diverse and dazzling collection from all over the continent, from Morocco to Zimbabwe, Uganda to Kenya, Helon Habila focuses on younger, newer writers – contrasted with some of their older, more established peers – to give a fascinating picture of a new and more liberated Africa.
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Waiting for an Angel
Lomba is a young journalist living under military regime in Lagos, one of the most dangerous cities in the world. His mind is full of soul music and girls and the novel he is writing. But his room-mate goes mad and is beaten up by soldiers, his first love is forced to marry a man she doesn’t love, and his neighbours are planning a demo which is bound to incite riot and arrests. Lomba can no longer bury his head in the sand. He must write the truth about this reign of terror . . .