Nigerian author Chika Unigwe is set to publish a new novel titled Grace. The novel explores themes of motherhood, agency, and forgiveness, and will be published by Canongate in April 2025.

The Bookseller announced the news earlier this month and shared that 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.” We are excited to read more about this fascinating protagonist as Unigwe is great at penning female main characters with complexity and nuance.

Read the full synopsis below:

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.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?”

Canongate editor Ellah Wakatama acquired world rights to Unigwe’s novel, excluding English in North America. She remarked to The Bookseller that she is excited for the upcoming novel:

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

Chika Unigwe is a Nigerian writer based in the United States. She is the author of four novels, as well as numerous short stories and essays. Her works include On Black Sisters Street, Night Dancer, Better Never Than Late and Black Messiah, among several others. On Black Sisters’ Street won the NLNG Prize for Literature. Unigwe is Professor of Creative Writing at Georgia College in Atlanta.

Congrats to Unigwe!