Nigerian writer Wole Soyinka, Nobel laureate and doyen of African literature, is best known for his plays, poems and essays. A longtime anti-corruption activist, he has endured imprisonment and exile. His novels are rare beasts – Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth is just his third. Written at the age of 86 and in the midst of a global pandemic, it is an astonishing achievement.
The plot centres around four men who, in their student days, formed an idealistic group – the ‘Gang of Four’ – certain they could rid Nigeria of corruption. Now, in middle age, two of them, Duyole Pitan-Payne, an engineer, and Kighare Menka, a surgeon, resolve to re-form the gang. They try to track down the remaining members, Badetona, an accountant, and Ferodien, a mysterious figure who has seemingly vanished. The plan is to put Menka’s home village in northern Nigeria on the map by building a state-of-the-art medical facility for the victims of Boko Harem. However, powerful forces in Nigeria’s deep state are desperate to thwart the scheme.
