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African Writers, Contemporary Fiction, Fiction, Short Story Collection, West African Writers

The Lies We Tell

by Fatima Bala
$20.00Only 1 left

A collection of short stories about the secrets, silences and bargains that shape Hausa women's lives in Northern Nigeria, from the author of Broken and Hafsatu Bebi.

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About this book

Every family runs on a few lies. These stories ask what they cost.

In The Lies We Tell, Fatima Bala turns to the short story to explore the hidden lives of women in Northern Nigeria. Moving between places like Zaria and Abuja, from marriages and family compounds to student hostels and city rooftops, the collection follows women who keep secrets, swallow hard truths and make quiet deals to hold their worlds together.

Love, grief, memory and faith run through every story, along with a touch of the spiritual: ordinary people share these pages with grandmothers who speak to the unseen. Bala writes with humour as well as tenderness, and each story leaves the reader weighing whether a lie that keeps the peace is still a lie worth telling.

This is Bala's third book, following her bestselling novels Broken: Not a Halal Love Story and Hafsatu Bebi. A strong pick for readers of contemporary African fiction and anyone who loves stories centred on women.