Becoming Abigail - A Novella

2007 - Finalist for the PEN Beyond The Margins Award.

2007 - A New York Libraries Books For Teens Selection

2006 - A New York Times Editor's Choice

2006 - A Chicago Reader Critic's Choice

2006 - A selection of the Essence Magazine Book Club

2006 - A selection of the Black Expressions Book Club

Tough, spirited and fiercely independent Abigail is brought as a teenager to London from Nigeria by relatives who attempt to force her into prostitution. She flees and in the aftermath struggles to find herself in the shadow of a strong but dead mother and also the means to save the one lover she has chosen in her short life, her social worker; disgraced and now facing charges. In spare yet haunting and lyrical prose reminiscent of Marguerite Duras, Abani brings to life a young woman who lives with a strength and inner light that will enlighten and uplift the reader.

“Abani is a fiction writer of mature and bounteous gifts . . . Becoming Abigail is more compressed and interior [than GraceLand], a poetic treatment of terror and loneliness . . . its sharp focus on the devastation of one young woman, has a deeper kind of resonance . . . Abani, himself incarcerated and tortured for his writings and activism in Nigeria in the mid-’80s, writes about the body’s capacity for both ecstasy and pain with an honesty and precision rarely encountered in recent fiction . . . This is a powerful, harrowing work, made more so because, while much of the narrative seems to be a vortex of affliction, Abigail’s destiny is not inevitable. The small canvas suits Chris Abani.”
—Sam Lipsyte, New York Times Book Review

“Moody, lyrical prose reminiscent of Toni Morrison’s Beloved . . . Though the fictional Abigail exists only on the pages of Abani’s novella, her character will seize the imagination of everyone who reads her story.”
—Essence Magazine

“Becoming Abigail, a spare yet voluptuous tale about a young Nigerian girl’s escape from prostitution is so hypnotic that it begs to be read in one sitting . . . Abigail is sensitive, courageous, and teetering on the brink of madness. Effortlessly gliding between past and present, Chris Abani spins a timeless story of misfortune and triumph.”
—Entertainment Weekly

“A darkly poetic investigation into the past’s deceptive hold over the present . . . Abani writes in dense, gorgeous prose. Abigail is not a creature of pity but inspiration.”
—The Nation

“Abani finds his place in a long line of literary refugees, from the Mexican revolutionary Ricardo Flores Magon to Bertolt Brecht and Theodor Adorno . . . Becoming Abigail is, not surprisingly, about memory, loss, and all the cruel disjunctions of exile. Not for a moment, though, does Abani allow himself that most tempting stupefacient of exile, nostalgia. Abani’s prose is diaphanous and poetic. His lyricism is elliptical, almost evasive . . . Becoming Abigail is a hard, unsparing book, cruel in its beauty, shocking in its compassion.”
—Los Angeles Times Book Review

“A lyrical yet devastating account of a young woman’s relocation to London from Nigeria . . . Abani’s abundant talent is clearly evident throughout, as is his willingness to be brutally honest without being grotesque. He also refrains from polemics and focuses solely on the artistic presentation of a young, tragic life, leaving interpretation to the reader.”
—Library Journal

“A searing girl’s coming-of-age novella in which a troubled Nigerian teen is threatened with becoming human trade . . . Recalling Lucas Moodyson’s crushing Lilya4Ever, this portrait of a brutalized girl given no control over her life or body, features Abani’s lyrical prose and deft moves between short chapters.”
—Publishers Weekly

“Spare, haunting vignettes of exquisite delicacy . . . Never sensationalized, the continual revelations are more shocking for being quietly told, compressed into taut moments that reveal secrets of cruelty—and of love—up to the last page. Abani tells a strong young woman’s story with graphic empathy.”
—Booklist

“Abani’s writing never becomes didactic—Becoming Abigail has the elegance and lyricism of a prose poem but doesn’t soft-pedal the abuse it chronicles.”
—Chicago Reader

“Abani writes in a fearless prose . . . He is able to toe that line between restraint and abundance, unfolding Abigail’s history like the raising of a bandage.”
—Time Out Chicago

“Compelling and gorgeously written, this is a coming-of-age novella like no other. Chris Abani explores the depths of loss and exploitation with what can only be described as a knowing tenderness. An extraordinary, necessary book."

- Cristina Garcia, author of Dreaming In Cuban

"Becoming Abigail, in quick bright sentences and chapters, addresses head-on many of the darker sides of human character, yet Abani's voice brings perspective to every moment, turning the pain into a beautiful painterly meditation on loss and aloneness."

- Aimee Bender, author of The Girl in the Flammable Skirt.

Becoming Abigail is an intimate - and ultimately devastating portrait of grief and pain. Abani's empathy for Abigail's torn life is matched only by his honesty in portraying it. Nothing at all is held back. A harrowing piece of work.

- Peter Orner, author of The Esther Stories