There has always been a strange dissonance between the public and the private in Nigeria.

I write from real life. I am an unrepentant eavesdropper and a collector of stories. I record bits of overheard dialogue.

The only reason race matters is because of racism.

Race doesn't really exist for you because it has never been a barrier. Black folks don't have that choice.

Death would be a complete knowingness, but what frightened him was this: not knowing beforehand what it was he would know.

How easy it was to lie to strangers, to create with strangers the versions of our lives we imagined.

You must never behave as if your life belongs to a man. Do you hear me?' Aunty Ifeka said. 'Your life belongs to you and you alone.