The Fishermen

Chigozie Obioma combines classic African storytelling with contemporary fiction in this haunting fable suffused with supernatural power. A striking debut novel about an unforgettable childhood.

In a small Nigerian town in the mid-1990s, four brothers take advantage of their strict father's absence to go fishing in a forbidden river. They encounter a dangerous local madman, whose mystic prophecy of violence threatens the very core of their close-knit family. He predicts that one of the brothers will kill another. This evil prophecy of violence unleashes a tragic chain of events.

"In his exploration of the mysterious and the murderous, of the terrors that can take hold of the human mind, of the colours of life in Africa, with its vibrant fabrics and its trees laden with fruit, and most of all in his ability to create dramatic tension in this most human of African stories, ­Chigozie Obioma truly is the heir to ­Chinua Achebe."  -  Fiammetta Rocco, The New York Times Book Review

Chigozie Obioma was named one of Foreign Policy magazine’s 100 Leading Global Thinkers in 2015, after the huge impact of his debut novel.  The Fisherman won the inaugural Financial Times/Oppenheimer Funds Emerging Voices Award for Fiction; the NAACP Image Awards for Outstanding Literary Work - Debut Author; and the Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction [Los Angeles Times Book Prizes].