Like many Nigerians, the novelist Stephen Buoro has been deeply influenced by the exquisite bedlam of Lagos, a megacity of extremes. Here, he defines the books that make sense of the chaos.
In Margot Livesey’s new novel, “The Road From Belhaven,” a 19th-century farm girl’s life and maturity are complicated by her uncontrollable visions of accident and disaster.
In Francis Spufford’s new novel, “Cahokia Jazz,” a detective must solve the mystery of a staged killing before its repercussions destroy his city’s social and political order.