Necessary Fiction

‘A vital work for our times’ IRENOSEN OKOJIE

‘Radical, gorgeous … a queer love song, honouring chosen family’ BIG ISSUE

‘Beautiful … this is prose worth spending time with’ MARIE CLAIRE

‘A gorgeously deeply humane book’ NICOLE DENNIS-BENN

‘A vivid, stirring revolution’ YRSA DALEY-WARD

‘The ink practically hovers off the page’ KAVEH AKBAR

What makes a family? How is it defined and by whom? Is freedom for everyone?

Across Lagos, a rolling cast of unforgettable characters seek out love in all its forms, daring to push all other relationships – with partners, family and friends – to the brink in the process. As they form and break unexpected connections, they reveal how they know each other, have loved each other and had their hearts broken in that pursuit.

Stubbornly alive and brazenly flawed, they work to establish themselves in the city’s worlds of art, music, entertainment and creativity while reckoning with desire, fear, death and God. Here, we witness their collective and individual attempts to grapple with the necessary fictions that they all carry for survival.

This is a shimmering, defiant cross-generational portrait of what it means to be queer in contemporary Nigeria.

‘Both deeply earnest and unique’ VULTURE

‘Unabashedly queer, complicated and occasionally outright hopeful’ NPR

‘Osunde is brilliant at character, giving the cast rich, knotty backstories that unfold in bursts of revelation’ TLS

‘Necessary Fiction's Nigerians are inseparable from Nigeria itself: brazen, willful, sexy, dynamic, explosive’ MARLON JAMES, author of A Brief History of Seven Killings

‘Osunde’s writing shines … It’s not just beautiful – it’s transformative’ BASSEY IKPI, author of I’m Telling the Truth But I’m Lying

UK Delivery:

• Free delivery on all orders of £10 or more.
• £1.49 delivery fee on orders below £10.
• UK orders are shipped via Royal Mail 2nd Class.

International Delivery:

• Flat rate delivery charges vary by country.

Dispatch and Delivery Times:

• All orders are shipped from our warehouse in Northampton, UK within 48 hours of receipt during working hours.
• UK mainland orders typically arrive within 3-5 working days via Royal Mail 2nd Class.
• International estimated delivery times:
• Europe & Channel Islands: 7 to 10 working days
• USA: 7 to 15 working days
• Rest of the World: 9 to 21 working days

View our full delivery infomation here.