A Spell of Good Things by Ayobami Adebayo

This book is long listed for the 2023 Booker Prize. I do not know the Yoruba language or have much in the way of exposure to the culture--I have studied the art, and that is it. So I am going to quite from another review related to this aspect of the book: "Yoruba and an unmistakable Nigerian verisimilitude permeates the novel. Readers unfamiliar with tribal nuances in southwestern Nigeria get no glossaries, soggy transliterations, or italicizations of Nigerian contexts. Yoruba intonations and folklore are exquisitely upheld, while Nigerian food holds an unapologetic stake without anglicized equivalents; characters eat amala, akara, boli, and pounded yam with efo riro without any exposition for a Western audience. Sporadic uses of Pidgin English and colloquial expressions like “sha” and “jare” keep the dialogues authentic." The story moves between two polar protagonists of different socioeconomic classes: a 16-year-old Eniola and Wura, a 28-year-old doctor. Eniola, poor, leaves school and becomes a tailoring apprentice when his parents cannot afford to pay his fees. Dr. Wura, the pride of wealthy parents, gets engaged to Kunle, a TV presenter and politician’s son. Political rivalry paradoxically binds and dampens the characters’ lives. There is a forthcoming governorship elections provoke rivalry between two political aspirants, Wura's father and Eniola's benefactor. They both receive financial support from a wealthy man who imports sundry supplies for government offices and donates to political campaigns in exchange for prospective contracts. This is where the two families meet for catastrophic events that crash and burn them up.