A first novel by Caine Prize winner Segun Afolabi
It's Berlin, summer 1985. Vincent is an overweight, struggling photographer living in a shabby apartment in Kreuzberg. His neighbours and friends are an ex-marine transsexual escort girl, a Kurdish refugee, a Nigerian playboy and various 'artistic' types. Vincent misses Lucille, the girl he left behind in London; he has not spoken to his adoptive father for years and resents his successful older brother. Content to get drunk in bars and embark on a series of one-night stands, Vincent isn't doing very much at all. Then a chance encounter, the murder of a charismatic politician and an urgent phone call from his aunt shake up his world and Vincent finally has to stop slacking and take some control. With unique insight into a Europe of immigrants that won him praise for his collection of short stories, Segun Afolabi has written a moving novel about the personal politics of identity and a gentle exploration of the nature of true love.