The Virgin of Flames

Abani [is] a fluid, closely observant writer. (The Washington Post)

Abani's intensely visual style--and his sense of humor--convert the stuff of hopelessness into the stuff of hope. (San Francisco Chronicle)

GraceLand amply demonstrates that Abani has the energy, ambition and compassion to create a novel that delineates and illuminates a complicated, dynamic, deeply fractured society. (Los Angeles Times)

Abani . . . has written an exhilarating novel, all the more astonishing for its hard-won grace and, yes, redemption. (The Village Voice)

In depicting how deeply external politics can affect internal thinking, GraceLand announces itself as a worthy heir to Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart. Like that classic of Nigerian literature, it gives a multifaceted, human face to a culture struggling to find its own identity while living with somebody else's. (Minneapolis Star-Tribune)