Description
The City He Never Returned To
A Novel by Ibekwe Paul Chukwuemeka
“What comes after survival?”
Lagos, 1965. Okechukwu Nwankwo believes his ledger of numbers can protect his family. He is wrong. When the sirens begin and the question “What are you?” makes them targets, he, his wife Amarachi, and their daughter Chidinma are forced to flee, joining a river of ghosts as they leave the city he will never return to.
Their survival is etched in the ledger’s changing columns: from finances to rations, from assets to the names of the lost. The ledger becomes their scripture of refusal—a private revolt against erasure.
Decades later, Chidinma—now a lawyer and archivist—wages a different war. Her battlefield is the nation’s bureaucracy, which prefers amnesia. Her weapon is her father’s ledger. Her mission: to build an institution that can hold a nation’s truth.
Spanning sixty years, from the First Republic to a visionary future, The City He Never Returned To is a sweeping, multigenerational epic that masterfully intertwines an intimate family saga with a profound national allegory. It is the story of a ledger that becomes a country’s conscience, and a family’s grief that seeds a nation’s future. A visionary work that dares to imagine repair as the ultimate act of hope.
Why This Novel Matters
• Speculative Repair: Not just a story of loss, but a blueprint for national healing.
• Generational Depth: Three generations, one ledger—witness the long arc of resilience.
• Historical Authenticity: Rooted in the author’s own family history and the lived experience of the Nigerian civil war.
• Political Imagination: A novel that asks: “What if we addressed our deepest wounds with the tools of justice and governance?”
About the Author
Ibekwe Paul Chukwuemeka was born in Nigeria to parents who survived the civil war. His father, from Umuoti-Inyishi, and his mother, from Obodo-Amaimo, inspired this story. He is the founder of Akajiofo Press, now based in Brussels. His work operates at the intersection of personal history and national imagination, dedicated to the “speculative repair” of African history and to amplifying unreturned voices.
Early Praise
“A monumental achievement in African literature. Chukwuemeka has written not just a family epic, but a visionary blueprint for national reconciliation.”
— Akajiofo Press
Product Details:
Format: Book
Size: 15.88 x 23.50 cm
Length: Approx. 50,964 words / 39 chapters + front & back matter
Publisher: Akajiofo Press
Publication Date: 2026
Language: English
ISBN: 978-1-291-77949-3
Secure Your Download
Purchase includes EPUB, MOBI, and PDF formats – ready to read on any device.
“Lateness is different from never. A debt acknowledged changes everything.”
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.