When God Burns A City By Emeka Obinna

On a ubiquitous Friday evening in August, a chance encounter with Abigail, an attractive young woman Obinna, a student pharmacist in a teaching hospital in Owerri, meets for the first time, transports him back to his childhood. Over a series of conversations that lasts a day, he tells her tales from his childhood that highlights the ephemeral nature of dreams and their transient relationship. And as he narrates to Abigail the story of his family’s move to a new house and his creation of a fantastical carton country called Rome, the magic of his childhood comes alive. With each recollection, the parallel worlds of his past and present intertwine, revealing a deeply moving tale of the bittersweet journey from boyhood to adulthood.

When God Burns A City is an experimental, meditative and nostalgic novel about growing up, finding one’s self and the necessary pain that comes with that evolution. Interwoven in every sentence is a thread of yearning, of a time when people created worlds from their dreams, and how these worlds oftentimes shrink into oblivion with the emergence of adult realities.