
This title is shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize. It is longlisted for the Desmond Elliot Prize. The Spider Kings Daughter" is a modern-day Romeo & Juliet set against the backdrop of a changing Lagos a city torn between tradition & modernity corruption & truth love & family loyalty. Seventeen-year-old Abike Johnson is the favourite child of her wealthy father. She lives in a sprawling mansion in Lagos protected by armed guards & ferried everywhere in a huge black jeep. But being her fathers favourite comes with uncomfortable duties & she is often lonely behind the high walls of her house. A world away from Abikes mansion in the citys slums lives a seventeen-year-old hawker struggling to make sense of the world. His family lost everything after his fathers death & now he runs after cars on the roadside selling ice cream to support his mother & sister. When Abike buys ice cream from the hawker one day they strike up an unlikely & tentative romance defying the prejudices of Nigerian society. But as they grow closer revelations from the past threaten their relationship & both Abike & the hawker must decide where their loyalties lie."