Prince of Monkeys by Nnamdi Ehirim's

A provocative debut novel by a brilliant young

Nigerian writer, tackling politics, class, and power as a

group of friends come of age in Lagos.

Growing up in middle-class Lagos, Nigeria during the late

1980s and early 1990s, Ihechi forms a band of close friends

in his neighborhood. They discover Lagos together as

teenagers whose differing ideologies come to the fore over

everything from film to football, Fela Kuti to God, sex to

politics. They remain close-knit until Ihechi's girlfriend, is

killed in an anti-government riot.

Exiled by his concerned mother, Ihechi moves in with his

uncle's family, where he struggles to find himself outside

his former circle of friends. Ihechi eventually finds success

by leveraging his connection with a notorious prostitution

linchpin and political heavyweight, and earning favor among

the ruling elite.

But just as Ihechi is about to make his final ascent into the

elite political class, he encounters his childhood friends and

experiences a crisis of conscience that forces him to

question his motives and who he wants to be. Nnamdi

Ehirim's debut novel, Prince of Monkeys is a lyrical

reflective glimpse into Nigerian life, religion, and politics at

the end of the twentieth century.