Not So Terrible People

On the 28th of March 2022, a train from Abuja to Kaduna is attacked by terrorists. A month before, a young woman with big dreams finds herself in the wrong place at the wrong time. Five years before then, two best friends survive a horrific assault that alters the course of their lives. In a mosque, a madman weeps every night in the room where an old man died.

Each story in Nana Sule’s debut collection, Not So Terrible People, is intricately linked and skilfully crafted. Grand themes, ideas and concepts are deftly explored, creating a prism effect where every story is like tilting the angle to catch a different wavelength, or perspective, of life. From the heavens to a souk in Kano; from the dorms in Ahmadu Bello University to a chemist shop in Kurmi; from domestic disputes to grand conspiracies; ordinary-seeming people will collide with ancient, unthinkable power.