‘A vital work for our times’ IRENOSEN OKOJIE
‘A gorgeously deeply humane book’ NICOLE DENNIS-BENN
'A vivid, stirring revolution' YRSA DALEY-WARD
‘The ink practically hovers off the page’ KAVEH AKBAR
What makes a family? How is it defined and by whom? Is freedom for everyone?
Across Lagos, a rolling cast of unforgettable characters seek out love in all its forms, daring to push all other relationships – with partners, family and friends – to the brink in the process. As they form and break unexpected connections, they reveal how they know each other, have loved each other and had their hearts broken in that pursuit.
Stubbornly alive and brazenly flawed, they work to establish themselves in the city’s worlds of art, music, entertainment and creativity while reckoning with desire, fear, death and God. Here, we witness their collective and individual attempts to grapple with the necessary fictions that they all carry for survival.
This is a shimmering, defiant cross-generational portrait of what it means to be queer in contemporary Nigeria.
'Both deeply earnest and unique'
VULTURE
'Unabashedly queer, complicated and occasionally outright hopeful'
NPR
‘Necessary Fiction's Nigerians are inseparable from Nigeria itself: brazen, willful, sexy, dynamic, explosive’ MARLON JAMES
'Osunde’s writing shines … It’s not just beautiful – it’s transformative’ BASSEY IKPI
Genre: Literary Fiction
‘A gorgeously deeply humane book’ NICOLE DENNIS-BENN
'A vivid, stirring revolution' YRSA DALEY-WARD
‘The ink practically hovers off the page’ KAVEH AKBAR
What makes a family? How is it defined and by whom? Is freedom for everyone?
Across Lagos, a rolling cast of unforgettable characters seek out love in all its forms, daring to push all other relationships – with partners, family and friends – to the brink in the process. As they form and break unexpected connections, they reveal how they know each other, have loved each other and had their hearts broken in that pursuit.
Stubbornly alive and brazenly flawed, they work to establish themselves in the city’s worlds of art, music, entertainment and creativity while reckoning with desire, fear, death and God. Here, we witness their collective and individual attempts to grapple with the necessary fictions that they all carry for survival.
This is a shimmering, defiant cross-generational portrait of what it means to be queer in contemporary Nigeria.
'Both deeply earnest and unique'
VULTURE
'Unabashedly queer, complicated and occasionally outright hopeful'
NPR
‘Necessary Fiction's Nigerians are inseparable from Nigeria itself: brazen, willful, sexy, dynamic, explosive’ MARLON JAMES
'Osunde’s writing shines … It’s not just beautiful – it’s transformative’ BASSEY IKPI
Genre: Literary Fiction
Praise for this book
"I can't believe how alive Eloghosa Osunde's Necessary Fiction is, how supersaturated and smart. Osunde writes with the cataclysmic dazzle and sneaky spiritual ache of Denis Johnson but pitches it toward us here in the digital age. I love their prose, their characters. Hustle, heart, privacy, sex, yearning so strong it buckles you - it's all here. The ink practically hovers off the page." - Kaveh Akbar
"Necessary Fiction lives up to its title and beyond - a luminous mirror hall, a prism refracting human need and want, generational patterns and heart work and chosen family carved from the city's chaotic sprawl. In true Eloghosa Osunde fashion, it's a vivid, stirring revolution with echoes that transcend time." - Yrsa Daley-Ward
"This book is exquisite and excruciating. It quickens your pulse and burns inside you for days. With elegant, lean, searing language, Eloghosa Osunde reminds us what it really means to be alive. A gorgeously deeply humane book, which is indeed, necessary." - Nicole Dennis-Benn
"Necessary Fiction's Nigerians are inseparable from Nigeria itself: brazen, willful, sexy, dynamic, explosive. They love hard, fight fierce, and love fiercer. And yet they are forced to the margins of their own society, having to navigate love and happiness under a blanket of fear, danger, and uncertainty. This is where the title becomes gospel, for they need those stories in order to live. When life has risk at every turn, family is chosen, and love is on the edge of the knife, fiction indeed becomes necessary." - Marlon James
"Necessary Fiction lives up to its title and beyond - a luminous mirror hall, a prism refracting human need and want, generational patterns and heart work and chosen family carved from the city's chaotic sprawl. In true Eloghosa Osunde fashion, it's a vivid, stirring revolution with echoes that transcend time." - Yrsa Daley-Ward
"This book is exquisite and excruciating. It quickens your pulse and burns inside you for days. With elegant, lean, searing language, Eloghosa Osunde reminds us what it really means to be alive. A gorgeously deeply humane book, which is indeed, necessary." - Nicole Dennis-Benn
"Necessary Fiction's Nigerians are inseparable from Nigeria itself: brazen, willful, sexy, dynamic, explosive. They love hard, fight fierce, and love fiercer. And yet they are forced to the margins of their own society, having to navigate love and happiness under a blanket of fear, danger, and uncertainty. This is where the title becomes gospel, for they need those stories in order to live. When life has risk at every turn, family is chosen, and love is on the edge of the knife, fiction indeed becomes necessary." - Marlon James
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Used availability for Eloghosa Osunde's Necessary Fiction