Chibundu Onuzo’s debut novel The Spider King Daughter is now available in Italian as La figlia del Re Ragno.
Chibundu Onuzo, who started writing at 17, is the youngest woman to be offered a two-book deal by Faber at 19. Her debut novel The Spider King’s Daughter (2012) came with the following blurb;
“The Spider King’s Daughter” is a modern-day Romeo and Juliet set against the backdrop of a changing Lagos, a city torn between tradition and modernity, corruption and truth, love and 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 and ferried everywhere in a huge black jeep. But being her father’s favourite comes with uncomfortable duties, and she is often lonely behind the high walls of her house. A world away from Abike’s mansion, in the city’s slums, lives a seventeen-year-old hawker struggling to make sense of the world. His family lost everything after his father’s death and now he runs after cars on the roadside selling ice cream to support his mother and sister. When Abike buys ice cream from the hawker one day, they strike up an unlikely and tentative romance, defying the prejudices of Nigerian society. But as they grow closer, revelations from the past threaten their relationship and both Abike and the hawker must decide where their loyalties lie.
The book was well-received winning a Betty Trask Award, being shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize and the Commonwealth Book Prize, and longlisted for the Desmond Elliot Prize. We loved it as well. After this came out, she followed it up with Welcome to Lagos which we also loved.
The novelist shared that there is a translation of The Spider Kings Daughter by Chiara Brovelli which was published by Fandago Editore.
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