Simon & Schuster Ltd We Were Girls Once

‘We were three: complete, as we were meant to be…’ Ego, Zina and Eriife were always destined to be best friends, ever since their grandmothers sat next to each other on a dusty bus to Lagos in the late 1940s, forging a bond that would last generations.But over half a century later, Nigeria is a new and modern country.As the three young women navigate the incessant strikes and political turmoil that surrounds them, their connection is shattered by a terrible assault.In the aftermath, nothing will remain the same as life takes them down separate paths. For Ego, now a high-powered London lawyer, success can’t mask her loneliness and feelings of being an outsider.Desperate to feel connected to Nigeria, she escapes into a secret life online.Zina’s ambition is to be anyone but herself; acting proves the ultimate catharsis, but it comes at the cost of her family. And Eriife surprises everyone by morphing from a practising doctor to a ruthless politician’s perfect wife. When Ego returns home, the three women’s lives become entwined once more, as Nigeria’s political landscape fractures.Their shared past will always connect them, but can they – and their country – overcome it?