{"product_id":"the-five-sorrowful-mysteries-of-andy-africa-9781635577778","title":"The Five Sorrowful Mysteries of Andy Africa","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe \u003ci\u003eLos Angeles Times \u003c\/i\u003eBook Prizes Finalist\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eShortlisted for the 2024 Betty Trask Prize\u003cbr\u003eLonglisted for the 2024 Aspen Words Literary Prize\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eNamed a Best of the Year Book by NPR\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCrackling with energy and intelligence, this debut is the \"\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003esmart, subversive, funny, heartbreaking\" (Kamila Shamsie) \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003estory of an exceptional teenager coming of age in the shadow of colonialism and communal violence in Nigeria.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAndrew Aziza is an unusually smart fifteen-year-old in Kontagora, Nigeria. He lives with his fiercely protective mother, Gloria, and fantasizes obsessively about white girls-especially blondes. When he's not in church, at school, or hanging about town with his droogs wishing to become one of \"Africa's first superheroes,\" he's contemplating the larger questions with his teacher Zahrah and his equally brilliant friend Fatima, a Hausa-Fulani girl who has feelings for him. Together they discuss mathematical theorems, Black power, and what Andy has deemed the Curse of Africa. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eSure enough, the reluctantly nicknamed Andy Africa soon falls hopelessly and inappropriately in love with the first white girl he lays eyes on: Eileen. But at the church party held to celebrate her arrival, multiple crises loom. An unfamiliar man there claims, despite his mother's denials, to be Andy's father, and an anti-Christian mob has gathered, headed for the church. In the ensuing havoc and its aftermath, Andy is forced to reckon with his identity and desires and determine how to live on the so-called Cursed Continent. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Five Sorrowful Mysteries of Andy Africa \u003c\/i\u003eannounces a dazzlingly unique literary voice. Crackling with energy, this tragicomic novel provides a stunning lens into contemporary African life, the complicity of the West, and the impossible challenges of growing up in a turbulent world.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eStephen Buoro\u003c\/b\u003e was born in Nigeria in 1993. He has an MA in Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia where he received the the Booker Prize Foundation Scholarship. He lives in Norwich, United Kingdom. \u003ci\u003eThe Five Sorrowful Mysteries of Andy Africa\u003c\/i\u003e is his first novel.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Bloomsbury Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50630155567378,"sku":"9781635577778","price":20.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_5db138bf-bbda-4ebc-90cc-7d63bc2f23fa.jpg?v=1747213914","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/the-five-sorrowful-mysteries-of-andy-africa-9781635577778","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}