IMPOSTOR ALERT!

A poor villager assumes a dead woman’s identity and affluent life in Lagos, Nigeria, in Akpabio Umoren’s novel.

Inyene Okon couldn’t make ends meet in Lagos, where the cost of living was too high. But reuniting with a former boyfriend in her village doesn’t pan out; he rejects her, despite being pregnant with his child, because she’d had to work as a prostitute to cover expenses. Humiliated, she heads back to Lagos, but the bus in which she’s riding is in a serious accident that only a few passengers, including Inyene, survive. The injured woman’s taken to a hospital and later awakens to realize that she’s been mistaken for fellow passenger and look-alike, Etima. Inyene, with a bandaged face, figures that she can be Etima at least until she’s healed, but growing suspicions from Etima’s family don’t make it easy. Inyene’s attempt to pass herself off as Etima isn’t as implausible as it sounds: Bandages partially disguise her features, and head trauma as well as a doctor’s diagnosis of “a mild degree of amnesia” can explain anything she doesn’t know. However, Etima’s family quickly has doubts, especially her youngest sister, Ekemini, who immediately questions Inyene’s dialect—she speaks nearly incomprehensible pidgin English while Etima’s English was apparently impeccable. Shortlisted for the Nigeria Prize for Literature for her play Perfect Mother, Akpabio Umoren develops an abundance of sympathy for Inyene, whose decision to steal an identity comes not from vindictiveness but desperation. Her hero is also saddened to know that, since the fiery accident burned the bodies, her family back home will likely believe she’s dead. In a strange but fascinating turn, Etima’s family, though legally the victims, behave as villains: More than one member accuses Inyene’s family of collusion without any evidence while Ekemini tests Inyene with endless questions like an interrogator. The book’s final part is decidedly more intense, as an anxious Inyene goes on the run and her village friend and Lagos roommate, Elizabeth, on the hunt for a possibly-still-living Inyene, is unknowingly being trailed by a private investigator.

A riveting, dramatic story that effectively repudiates the notion of lawbreakers as immoral or inhuman.