Winner of the Edmund White Award for Debut Fiction

August is a God-fearing track star who has left home and the expectations of his overbearing sisters. It’s his first semester of university in Enugu State and he can’t stop thinking about openly gay student Segun, who is clear that he only wants to be with a man who is comfortable in his own skin.

August and Segun’s relationship eventually grows into a comfortable intimacy that defies the violence around them. But there is only so long Segun can stand being loved behind closed doors, and when a law is passed criminalizing gay marriage, August and Segun’s love is tested like never before.