THE PRIVATE JOYS OF NNENNA MALONEY

310pp., paperback, Reprint, London, (2019) 2020

Winner of the Betty Trask Award.

Nnenna Maloney longs to connect with her Igbo-Nigerian culture. Her close relationship with her mother, Joanie, becomes strained as she begins to ask questions about her father, who Joanie refuses to discuss.

"A vivid picture of people seeking security and identity in the maze of modern-day England. This is fiction as sculpture: skilfully paring down a scene to reveal the shape of the pain hidden within. Jonathan's search for validation, and Nnenna's drive to create an identity for herself, are moving and relatable stories, intimately told." Guardian

"Nzelu writes with a witty confidence rarely seen in debut fiction. Smart, serious and entertaining" Bernardine Evaristo, author of Girl, Woman, Other

Okechukwu Nzelu lives in Manchester and teaches creative writing at Lancaster University. The Private Joys of Nnenna Maloney is his debut novel.