Coconut

"Why am I not White like everybody else?" Nan came and sat on the edge of my bed. "What do you mean?" A tender finger brushed against my cheek. "Well, everyone in this house is White. Why am I Black?"

A generation of Nigerian children were born in Britain in the '50s and '60s, privately fostered by White families, then taken to Nigeria by their parents.

Coconut is the story of one of those children.

1963, North London. Nan fosters one-year-old Florence Olajide and calls her "Ann". Florence adores her foster mother more than anything but Nan, and the children around her, all have white skin, and she can’t help but feel different. Then, four years later, after a weekend visit to her birth parents, Florence never returns to Nan. Two months after, sandwiched between her mother and father plus her three siblings, six-year-old Florence steps off a ship in Lagos to the fierce heat of the African sun.

Swapping the lovely, comfortable bed in her room at Nan’s for a mat on the floor of the living room in her new home, Florence finds herself struggling to adjust. She wants to embrace her cultural heritage but doesn’t speak Yoruba and knows nothing of the customs. Clashes with her grandmother, Mama, the matriarch of the family, result in frequent beatings. Torn between her early childhood experiences and the expectations of her African culture, she begins to question who she is. Nigerian, British, both?

Florence’s story is a tale of loss and loneliness, surviving poverty, maltreatment, and fighting to get an education. Most of all, it’s a moving, uplifting and inspiring account of one woman’s self-determination to discover who she is and find her way to a place she can call home. Perfect for fans of Lemn Sissay’s My Name Is Why and Tara Westover’s Educated.

'With grace, wit, insight and not a little heartbreak...[Florence] adds to the conversation around modern migration.... Resilience, love and a loyalty to our unique sense of self lie at the heart of her story.' (Adjoa Andoh, narrator)

'Extraordinarily moving...a stunning read, beautifully written with searing honesty and humor about the complexities of race and identity, about culture and belonging, about the discernible quest for self-discovery. This is a testimony of faith, resilience and determination, a wonderful achievement.' (Abi Daré, author of The Girl With the Louding Voice)

‘A piece of poetic resilience, Coconut is an integral intervention in our understanding of race, identity and belonging.’ (David Lammy)

‘I found myself completely immersed from the start! Florence writes with honesty, beauty and courage…delving deeply into some of the most important issues of our times.’ (Christy Lefteri, international bestselling author of The Beekeeper of Aleppo)