Nights of the creaking bed by Toni Kan

The rst book in the new Cassava Shorts series offers an unflinching look at life and lust in Lagos. This memorable short story collection is full of colourful characters involved in affecting dramas: a young man who can’t get the image of his naked, beautiful mother out of his mind; a middle-aged housewife who finds love again but has an impossible decision to make; a child so poor he has to hawk onions on Christmas day – and many others.

“Beginning with deliberate brevity and ending on a note of lush lyricism, these fascinating vignettes of Lagos life showcase an array of peripatetic characters who are hopelessly stuck in their dilemmas.”