Holiday Blues

Take two teenage friends, cross their paths with two bad brothers during one holiday break, and what you get is Holiday Blues. The secondary school-attending friends are Jon, schooling out of town at Port Harcourt, and Lasy whose school is closer home to their small town of Aboh near Orlu in eastern Nigeria. Jon’s story is one of mistaken identity and is tied to his older sister Mary to whom he has an emotional attachment. Returning home from school after two years he finds that Mary has changed in a way he doesn’t like, and blames her friend Matty for spoiling her. On a vacation trip to Lagos he gets to hear things about bad brother number one whom he mistakes for Matty, then decides to do something about it. Lasy’s story is that of pursuit of local fame that puts him in direct competition with bad brother number two, Chamberlain. Feeling humiliated by Lasy’s rising popularity, Chamberlain executes a plan to teach him a lesson he would never forget.

Set in early 1980s Nigeria, Holiday Blues captures a bit of the culture and social issues of the time: Juvenile delinquency, exam fraud, poor infrastructure, bad electricity, corrupt policemen at road checkpoints, chaotic traffic, malaria, ghetto jungle justice, traditional customs and beliefs. You are also taken on panoramic trips within a rural setting in eastern Nigeria, from east across the River Niger to Lagos in the west, and within Lagos itself.

January 15, 2015. Review initially written in 2008. Novel published in 2008 by Lulu.com, ISBN 978-1-4357-6024-0.