Award-winning Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has released her first novel in twelve years, titled Dream Count.
Set in Nigeria and the United States, the novel intricately weaves the stories of four women, exploring their lives, loves, and longings with Adichie’s characteristic unflinching prose.
Dream Count is published by 4th Estate.
Themes and Style
Adichie describes Dream Count as a contemporary yet timeless exploration of various themes: “DREAM COUNT is contemporary: Covid. Sexual assault inspired by a true story. Depression. A man’s extreme ‘ghosting’ of a woman. Fibroids. Teenage self-esteem. PMS. But also timeless: injustice. Dignity. Regret. What is a full life? What does’meaning’ mean?”
The novel is designed to be provocative and multifaceted, featuring characters with diverse perspectives and beliefs: “DREAM COUNT is provocative: Omelogor gives men helpful tips in a blog called “For Men Only.” And multi-faceted: Zikora is devoutly Catholic. Kadiatou is a Muslim. Omelogor is agnostic. Chia is a dreamer.”
Adichie emphasizes the novel’s focus on language and the complexities of love: “DREAM COUNT revels in language. Some sentences sing, some are poetic, all are truth-seeking, especially about love. Solid have-your-back-for-life love between friends. Romantic love. The one who could have loved you. The one you want to love but can’t. The one you love but can’t call love. The one who should have stayed.”
She concludes, “DREAM COUNT is serious and curious and probing and funny. The writing process has been arduous and has also been filled with ardor. I am deeply excited about this book. I am so proud to have finished it.”
Characters and Plot Overview
The novel tells the intersecting stories of four African women, interweaving flashbacks from their past with episodes set during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Key characters include:
- Chiamaka: A US-based travel writer from a wealthy Nigerian family, navigating her search for the ideal romantic partner.
- Zikora: Chiamaka’s friend, a Nigerian lawyer living in the US, who gives birth to a son after being abandoned by her boyfriend.
- Kadiatou: Chiamaka’s Guinean housekeeper, who is sexually assaulted by a powerful hotel guest, a storyline inspired by the Nafissatou Diallo and Dominique Strauss-Kahn case.
- Omelogor: Chiamaka’s cousin, a banker in Abuja who runs a men’s advice website and conducts research on pornography in the US.
About Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s works have been translated into over fifty languages.
She is the author of Purple Hibiscus, Half of a Yellow Sun, Americanah, The Thing Around Your Neck, We Should All Be Feminists, Dear Ijeawele, or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions, Notes on Grief, and Mama’s Sleeping Scarf (as Nwa Grace-James).
A MacArthur Fellowship recipient, she divides her time between the United States and Nigeria.
