Lomba, a young journalist, languishes in prison. His world has slowly crumbled. While the guards sleep, he begins to write. His story spirals backwards in time, telling the tale of the residents of Poverty Street, Lagos. We hear of resistance leader Joshua, in love with a former pupil turned prostitute, of Nancy, who finds solace covering walls with graffiti, and of Janice, forced to marry a General.

Through seven interconnected narratives, Habila provides a strikingly cinematic and hallucinatory account of the difficulties of life under dictatorship in Nigeria. Waiting for an Angel captures the stubborn hope amidst despair of the dark days of Nigeria's recent past, documenting a period we forget at our peril….

• Price: N800
• ISBN: 978-978-080-514-2
• Pages: 169

Blurbs

This is a beautifully judged work, powerful, compassionate and complete. The Observer

This is a startlingly vivid novel....Habila paints an extraordinary tableau. Publishers Weekly

Habila's fictionalization...reveals the true casualties of oppression better than any news or history. Library Journal

In elegant, economical, and often lyrical prose, Habila captures the state of terror under which Nigerians were forced to live. The Times

Like an angel, Habila has breathed new life into his world. Village Voice

Tender, funny and compassionate. Doris Lessing

The linchpin, Lomba…is first encountered through prison diaries that echo Soyinka's classic memoir of the 1960s, The Man Died. Maya Jaggi

Habila's debut is exciting...he is one of the first literary voices to emerge from the newly democratic Nigeria. San Francisco Chronicle

Habila employs a prose whose spirituality recalls Wole Soyinka, Amilcar Cabral and King. Time Out

Extract: [pop-up version] [pdf version]