Jumia Books The Baby Is Mine

When his girlfriend throws him out during the pandémic, Bambi has to go to his Uncle's house in lock-down Lagos. He arrives during a blackout, and is surprised to find his Aunty Bidemi sitting in a candlelit room with another woman. They both claim to be the mother of the baby boy, fast asleep in his crib.

At night Bambi is kept awake by the baby's cries, and during the days he is disturbed by a cockerel that stalks the garden. There is sand in the rice. A blood stain appears on the wall. Someone scores tribal markings into the baby's cheeks. Who is lying and who is telling the truth?

'Braithwaite excels at narrative voice, morally compromised characters and original, subversive plots... Part drama, part thriller, it is a gripping distillation of Braithwaite's distinctive brand of comic domestic noir.' Evening Standard

A blackly funny piece of Lagos gothic, a short-story exclusive about parenting and playboys for the Quick Reads literacy programme.