The Bead Collector

Sefi Atta

Lagos, January 1976, six years after the Nigerian Civil War. A new military regime has been in power for six months, but rumors are spreading that a countercoup is imminent. At a crowded art exhibition in the affluent Ikoyi neighborhood, Remi Lawal, a Nigerian woman who runs her own greeting-card shop, meets Frances Cooke, who introduces herself as an American art dealer in Nigeria to buy rare beads. They strike up an acquaintance and hospitable Remi welcomes the enigmatic Frances into her world. Over the next few weeks, their conversations navigate an obstacle course of personal confidence about their aspirations, loyalties, and attitudes on marriage and motherhood. At times, Frances’s curiosity steers their exchanges toward Nigeria itself—its colonial inheritance, civil war, attitudes about social norms, corruption, and capitalism. However, the February 13 assassination of General Muhammed causes Remi to reconsider one telling conversation with Frances in a new light. Her deepening disaffection now replaced by a renewed sense of patriotism, she begins to doubt that the bead collector is who she claims to be. With her signature subtlety and wit, Sefi Atta recasts the international espionage tale by bringing the intrigue and politics of family life to the fore. Chronicling a brief friendship, it reveals one Nigerian mother’s yearnings—amidst legacies of conflict and uncertainty—to help build her country from home.