When We Speak of Nothing, Olumide Popoola
When We Speak of Nothing, Olumide Popoola
List: $24.99 | Sale: $17.50
Club: $12.49

When We Speak of Nothing

Author: Olumide Popoola

Narrator: Ben Onwukwe

Unabridged: 9 hr 45 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Recorded Books

Published: 05/04/2021


Synopsis

Best mates Karl and Abu are both 17 and live near King’s Cross. It’s 2011 and racial tensions are set to explode across London. Abu is infatuated with gorgeous classmate Nalini but dares not speak to her. Meanwhile, Karl is the target of the local ‘wannabe’ thugs just for being different.

When Karl finds out his father lives in Nigeria, he travels to Port Harcourt to escape the sound and fury of London, and connect with a Dad he’s never known. Rejected on arrival, Karl befriends Nakale, an activist who wants to expose the ecocide in the Niger Delta to the world. Increasingly distant from happenings in London, Karl falls headlong for Nakale’s feisty cousin, Janoma.

Meanwhile, the murder of Mark Duggan triggers a full-scale riot in London. Abu finds himself caught up in its midst, leading to a tragedy that forces Karl to race back home.

When We Speak of Nothing launches a powerful new talent. The stream of consciousness prose, peppered with contemporary slang, captures what it means to be young, black and queer in London and Port Harcourt. If grime music were a novel, it would be this.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Eric on July 02, 2017

Back in 2011 when riots flared up in England, I remember riding home late at night on a bus that had to be diverted because Brixton was in chaos. Everyone on that bus was charged up with the news scrolling through their phones and checking social media for bits of information. It's interesting how w......more

Goodreads review by The on August 19, 2018

To be young, a person of colour and in search of a concrete identity are major concerns of Olumide Popoola’s debut novel - When We Speak of Nothing. Set in a council estate in the borough of Kings Cross in central London and simultaneously in the oil rich city of Port Harcourt, this novel is a s......more

Goodreads review by Elizabeth on August 06, 2019

the scope of is so wide, (London, Nigeria, corruption, London riots, growing up as trans, chronic illness) but at its heart it's a beautiful macro story of two boys learning how to take care of one another. If you like character-driven stories I highly recommend!......more

Goodreads review by Mary on October 02, 2017

[URL not allowed]......more

Goodreads review by Christine on December 05, 2018

One of the benefits of joining a book club is that you will be surprised by a book. This book was a complete unknown to me and hit my surprise nerve more than once. To describe it requires some careful grammar and clear writing: it's a book written by a German-Nigerian woman living in London. She wri......more