Vagabonds!
SynopsisPlot
Èkó, the spirit of Lagos, and his loyal minion Tatafo weave trouble through the streets of Lagos and through the lives of the ‘vagabonds’ powering modern Nigeria: the queer, the displaced and the footloose. With Tatafo as our guide we meet these people in the shadows. Among them are a driver for a debauched politician; a lesbian couple whose tender relationship sheds unexpected light on their experience with underground sex work; a mother who attends a secret spiritual gathering that shifts her reality. As their lives begin to intertwine—in markets and underground clubs, in churches and hotel rooms—the vagabonds are seized and challenged by the spirits who command the city. A force is drawing them all together, but for what purpose?
Story
About this book
Vagabonds! is a debut novel by Eloghosa Osunde set in Lagos, Nigeria. The city itself appears as a character: Èkó, the spirit of Lagos, moves through the streets alongside a figure called Tatafo, stirring events in the lives of people pushed to the margins. Osunde uses the word vagabonds to describe those whom the state and society label as outsiders, including queer Nigerians, displaced workers, and people surviving through informal economies.
The novel follows several interlocking stories. A driver works for a corrupt politician. A lesbian couple navigates both their private bond and their involvement in underground sex work. A mother attends a secret spiritual gathering that reshapes her sense of reality. These characters cross paths in markets, churches, hotel rooms, and nightclubs, their separate lives pulled together by forces they do not fully understand. Spirits intervene, challenge, and occasionally control the people they encounter.
Osunde builds Lagos as a place where the physical and the spiritual overlap constantly. The structure moves between perspectives and registers, blending realism with elements drawn from Yoruba cosmology. Capitalism, corruption, and systems of oppression run through the background, shaping the conditions under which each character operates.
