Wahala

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What to expect

Brought to you by Penguin.

Sex and the City’ with a killer edge for fans of QUEENIE, EXPECTATION and MY SISTER, THE SERIAL KILLER

See me, see trouble

Ronke, Simi, Boo are three mixed-race friends living in London. They have the gift of two cultures, Nigerian and English, though they don’t all choose to see it that way.

Everyday racism has never held them back, but now in their thirties, they question their future. Ronke wants a husband (he must be Nigerian); Boo enjoys (correction: endures) stay-at-home motherhood; while Simi, full of fashion career dreams, rolls her eyes as her boss refers to her ‘urban vibe’ yet again.

When Isobel, a lethally glamorous friend from their past arrives in town, she is determined to fix their futures for them.

Cracks in their friendship begin to appear, and it is soon obvious Isobel is not sorting but wrecking. When she is driven to a terrible act, the women are forced to reckon with a crime in their past that may just have repeated itself.

A darkly comic and bitingly subversive take on love, race and family, Wahala will have you laughing, crying and gasping in horror. Boldly political about class, colorism and cooking, here is a truly inclusive tale that will speak to anyone who has ever cherished friendship, in all its forms.

© Nikki May 2022 (P) Penguin Audio 2022

Critics Review

  • Wow, what a debut! I was left wanting more – more of Ronke, Boo and Simi and more of Nikki’s brilliant writing about food and friendship. Warm and fun, I loved watching the more sinister side to the story emerge. Fantastic!

    SARAH PEARSE, author of THE SANATORIUM

  • Has all the makings of a modern blockbuster

    VOGUE

  • I just raced through Wahala. Nikki May writes so well about friendship, food, fashion and the many ways modern women can stumble in their careers and personal lives

    CLARE CHAMBERS, author of SMALL PLEASURES

  • Pull up a seat at the brunch table for this delicious debut novel as the lives of three women are unsettled by a seductive interloper. WAHALA is like the best gossip with friends: witty, tense, addictive

    ABIGAIL DEAN, author of GIRL A

  • I have a feeling this book is going to be huge! It examines friendships that are held together by the thinnest of threads, all the doubts and questions that come from the choices women face, self-destruction, good intentions, bad intentions and a creeping sense of… well, trouble

    MARIANNE CRONIN, author of THE ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF LENNI AND MARGOT

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