‘An astonishing talent’ Lauren Groff, author of The Vaster Wilds
‘One of my favourite living writers’ Jeff VanderMeer
Twenty-three-year-old Yosoye arrives in Lagos from her smaller home city of Ibadan, ready to begin her life. With a brand-new degree in communications, she is placed on an internship at a high-end architectural firm developing exclusive waterfront housing throughout the city. For introverted Yosoye, the glossy assignment is a chance to spread her wings, put her talents to use and envision a full and rewarding future.
But Yosoye’s idyllic vision of her future in Lagos soon begins to seem naive. Something is not right about the waterfront building project the architectural firm are working on, but no-one will give her satisfactory answers. And then there is the bizarre epidemic sweeping through the city, of pregnant women drawn to water and jumping tragically to their deaths, in rivers, lakes and the sea. Which comes to seem even more chilling when Yosoye realises that after a chance encounter in her first weeks in Lagos, she is pregnant …
‘One of my favourite living writers’ Jeff VanderMeer
Twenty-three-year-old Yosoye arrives in Lagos from her smaller home city of Ibadan, ready to begin her life. With a brand-new degree in communications, she is placed on an internship at a high-end architectural firm developing exclusive waterfront housing throughout the city. For introverted Yosoye, the glossy assignment is a chance to spread her wings, put her talents to use and envision a full and rewarding future.
But Yosoye’s idyllic vision of her future in Lagos soon begins to seem naive. Something is not right about the waterfront building project the architectural firm are working on, but no-one will give her satisfactory answers. And then there is the bizarre epidemic sweeping through the city, of pregnant women drawn to water and jumping tragically to their deaths, in rivers, lakes and the sea. Which comes to seem even more chilling when Yosoye realises that after a chance encounter in her first weeks in Lagos, she is pregnant …
Reviews
Through her intricate and sumptuous prose, 'Pemi Aguda introduces us to a Lagos we have never known before, skilfully rendering its colours and peering into its shadowed corners. Every carefully chosen word draws the reader further into an intrigue that is all at once political, personal, and otherworldly. One Leg on Earth is an enchantment
'Pemi Aguda is a brilliantly daring writer like none other with a voice that is unique and powerful. One Leg on Earth is a sharp, funny, bold, nuanced, utterly absorbing debut I did not know I needed. I will read anything 'Pemi Aguda writes!
A stunning achievement. 'Pemi Aguda writes with luminous prose that feels both mystical and human. Brief and powerful, this conceptually daring novel haunted me long after I turned the last page
A portrait of a woman, a city, and a shared moment in time, and a story about how it feels when the changes in a life are intertwined with bigger, scarier changes in the world outside. One Leg on Earth gripped me from the first page
One Leg on Earth is a haunting, beautiful novel, written with exquisite care. A kind of horror story about the cost of 'progress' for a city, a culture, for a human soul. That horror is balanced by the potency of motherhood, its blessings and its trials. 'Pemi Aguda writes like she knows magic and, based on this book, I believe it
A fearless work of fiction in the lineage of Toni Morrison's Sula. Aguda writes beautifully about the ways realities can break and why sometimes they should be shattered
Marvelous ... a clear-eyed exploration of daughterhood, community, and the human costs of urban development, powered by an immersive portrait of a woman wrestling with the question of whom and what she's willing to sacrifice for the life she wants. This is unforgettable
One Leg On Earth is a dizzying tale of the gluttony of industry, the intrigue of newness, and the maddening, frightening and ever-growing desire for belonging; set in a Lagos which is as captivating as it is incomprehensible. Aguda is a brilliant storyteller, her prose rich with complicated beauty. One Leg on Earth is a gorgeous debut
Breathtaking! And to borrow a phrase from the book: heart wilding! Written with 'Pemi Aguda's characteristically sharp, thoughtful and gorgeous prose, the deliciously suspenseful and immensely human One Leg on Earth caught me in its wave and I happily, greedily, tumbled along. I adored every word in this book