“In Dependence” was first published in 2008. It was re-published in May 2019 for its 10-year anniversary. Sarah Ladipo Manyika was the finalist for the 2021 Audie Award, the Oscar of audiobooks, for her narration of the novel in the AUTHOR/NARRATOR category.
The novel begins in the early 1960s when Tayo Ajayi meets Vanessa Richardson, the beautiful daughter of an ex-colonial officer. Their story, which spans three continents and four turbulent decades, is that of a brave but bittersweet love affair. It is the story of individuals struggling to find their place within uncertain political times – a story of passion and idealism, courage and betrayal.
Buy NOW'Sarah Ladipo Manyika tells a compelling story that challenges centuries of stereotypes of what an African story can be—one that weaves love, history and race across decades and continents. It also reminds us of how Africa has always been embedded in the world and the world in Africa. The novel is a graceful and astonishing achievement.' — Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and Director of the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research at Harvard
'I so enjoyed this beautiful and ambitious novel spanning four decades. It refracts race, culture, politics, work and family through a great love story between a Nigerian man and British woman. The writing is crisp and un-showy, the storytelling immersive, and the characters are all written with sensitivity, showing their humanity. The generation of African men who arrived in Britain in the middle of the twentieth century, and married white women, is a lesser-told tale in both British and African fiction. This is an important novel which bridges the gap between then and now.' — Bernardine Evaristo, Booker Prize Winner
'In Dependence is a riveting love story across the challenges of race, geography and scars of colonial history.' –Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o’, Author and Distinguished Professor of Comparative Literature and English at the University of California, Irvine
'It is a mark of Manyika’s care for her characters that life and love so engagingly result in a hopeful union.' — Akin Adesokan, author of Roots in the Sky
'Sarah Ladipo Manyika’s novel has the subtle power of a well woven work, nothing is out of place… it is full of surprises.' — Obi Nwankanama, Vanguard
'A big and elegantly told story of lost love.' — Brian Chikwava, Author of Harare North
