Yorùbá Boy Running

1821: Thirteen-year-old Àjàyí is snatched from the Nigerian village of Òsogùn by slave raiders who burn the town and enslave its people. Shackled and taken to Lagos, he is certain he will never see his family again.

Freed by English warships, Àjàyí is put in the care of the Church Missionary Society and baptised Samuel Crowther. Quickly rising through the ranks of the church, Crowther never forgets the driving passion of his life: to end the slave trade, by any means necessary.

To do this, Crowther dedicates himself to ensuring the deposition of the predatory ruling class who profit from the trade in human flesh. Crowther's mission takes him from the lush vegetation of the African interior to the palaces of Yoruba kings; from a meeting with Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle to his consecration as the first African bishop of the Anglican Church.

Crowther's journey was unique and so too is this formally playful and kaleidoscopic novel, combining adventure, personal diary, historical account and court intrigue. With glorious verve, the late Biyi Bándélé conjures a mesmerising chorus of voices, sweeping the reader through the many seasons of Crowther's life.