Night Dancer
Mma has just buried her mother, and now she is alone...

She has been left everything. But she’s also inherited her mother’s bad name. A bold, brash women, the only thing her mother refused to discuss was her past. Why did she flee her family and bring her daughter to a new town when she was a baby? What was she escaping from?

Abandoned now, Ma has no knowledge of her father or her family — but she is desperate to find out.

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Although originally written in English, Night Dancer first appeared in Dutch translation under the title Nachtdanser, published by Antwerp-based De Bezige Bij in 2011. The original English version was released by Jonathan Cape in 2012.

A glossary of the Igbo words found in the novel is available here.

“Chika Unigwe is one of the most probing, thought-provoking writers of the recent renaissance in African fiction. Many of these are female, bringing hitherto submerged stories about African women to the fore. Unigwe is a Nigerian living in Belgium: her impressive second novel, 2009’s On Black Sisters’ Street, went behind the scenes of the sex industry to explore the complicated reasons why four African women end up as prostitutes in the red-light district of Antwerp. With Night Dancer, she continues her project of tackling big issues through superb portrayals of complex female characters, and immersing us in the dramas of their lives.”
  — Bernardine Evaristo, author of Blonde Roots

“Chika Unigwe’s third novel is a vibrant and prescient tale of one woman’s search for belonging, set against the backdrop of Nigeria and its cultural changes over a 50 year period.”
  — Stylist

© 2016-2023 Chika Unigwe. Website: Daria Tunca.