Canongate snaps up Chika Unigwe's novel on 'agency and forgiveness'

Canongate has snapped up Grace, Chika Unigwe’s new novel about "agency and forgiveness".

Editor at large Ellah Wakatama acquired world rights, excluding English in North America, from Kate Johnson at Wolf Literary. Canongate will publish the book in April 2025, and rights will be handled by rights director Jessica Neale.

"Grace is a story about agency and the ethics of motherhood as revealed through the lens of a successful young woman in Nigeria with a hidden past," the synopsis says. "The story opens on Baby’s birthday, but Grace hasn’t seen her first born in 26 years. Today Grace has a husband, twin daughters, her own hospital and a secret that threatens to ruin her life."

The synopsis adds: "When her estranged mother shows up at her family home, Grace is forced to confess about the pregnancy and child she gave up when she was only 15. Her husband understands but disapproves of her private clinic, that doubles as a somewhat ethical baby farm. Can he and their twin daughters forgive her for this secret she has hidden from them all these years? Can Grace forgive herself? And will Baby, if she is to be found, accept her as a mother?"

Unigwe is professor of creative writing at Georgia College, and the author of several works of fiction, including On Black Sisters’ Street (Vintage), which won the NLNG Prize for Literature.

"I am delighted to be working again with Ellah, telling the stories that steal sleep from me, demanding to be told," she said. "I feel so incredibly blessed to be in such capable hands."

Wakatama added: "In Grace Chika picks up her focus on the lives of modern young women in Nigeria with curiosity and empathy. She is a gifted, skilful writer whom I’m happy to be publishing again, and I believe Grace’s story will appeal to readers interested in the themes of agency and forgiveness."