Overview
- Adichie unveiled the novel in a virtual press conference tied to its Spanish translation and release, marking her first work of fiction in 12 years.
- She describes it as her most personal book, written after the unexpected deaths of her parents during 2020–2021 and following a prolonged creative block.
- The narrative follows four African women in the United States, exploring friendship, aspiration and the complexities of diasporic life without reducing Africa to poverty or violence.
- A character inspired by Nafissatou Diallo reframes the 2011 Dominique Strauss-Kahn case as a precursor to the MeToo era and questions how societies treat allegations of sexual abuse.
- In interviews, Adichie criticizes ideological conformity in U.S. academia and market pressures on African writers, and she condemns the criminalization of migrants seeking better lives.