Dream Count

In 2020, as the pandemic lockdown tightens, Chiamaka sits with her past. She is a Nigerian travel writer based in the United States, and she goes back over the men she has loved, wanting above all to be truly known.

The book follows four women across five sections, each with its own point of view. Chiamaka's closest friend, Zikora, is a lawyer in Washington, D.C. She is pregnant, and her partner has just left her.

Chiamaka's cousin Omelogor used to be a banker and now writes. She keeps a provocative blog and asks herself why she has never settled down with anyone. Kadiatou, an immigrant from Guinea, cleans hotel rooms and looks after Chiamaka's house. Her own history of injustice reaches well past her private life.

The narrative moves between Nigeria and America. Romantic love, motherhood and desire run through all four lives, set against the changing promise of the American dream. It is a literary novel in which each woman's voice takes its turn, and the question that carries it is what being known by another person would cost and give.