Lyrical, layered, and quietly profound; a multigenerational tale of identity, love, and belonging.
Meko’s compelling tale traces the long arc of a family caught between continents and expectations. Warren Wilcox grows up resentful of his Nigerian roots after learning of his grandfather’s rejection of his Canadian family. A physician devoted to social justice, he volunteers in Sierra Leone and visits Nigeria, experiences that deepen his sense of alienation. In Vancouver he falls in love with Kairi, a Japanese-Canadian human-rights lawyer, but her move to Tokyo shatters his emotional balance. When he meets Yinka, a lawyer of mixed heritage, he discovers a vibrant Nigerian immigrant community, sparking a renewed embrace of his heritage and a landmark campaign for foreign-trained doctors.
Meko writes without sentimentality or easy answers. The story offers neither flawless saints nor simple sinners. Nigerian tradition is at once dazzling and restrictive, while Canadian freedom offers possibility but no immunity from sorrow.The novel drifts seamlessly through time and geography, fusing personal histories with philosophical depth. Warren’s push to open Canada’s medical system to foreign graduates reads as more than policy—it is the visible proof of a private reconciliation, a recognition that who we are is shaped as much by deliberate choice as by ancestral claim. The prose is measured and thoughtful. Growth, in Meko’s telling, is a lifelong negotiation rather than a clean epiphany. Warren emerges not as a man who finds a single home but as one who learns to live with many.
This luminous exploration of heritage and the lifelong search for home makes for a must-read.
Pub date February 24, 2025
FriesenPress
ISBN 978-1038327628
Price $33.99 (USD) Hardcover, $19.99 Paperback, $3.99 Kindle edition