Penguin Random House, the American publisher of Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has announced a new novel from the author, Dream Count. It follows a Nigerian travel writer, Chiamaka living in the US.
Release date
According to the publisher, the book will be released on March 4, 2025. Chimamanda worked on the book for ten years and it follows 4 women and their “longings and desires.”
It is the Zikora book
Chimamanda has already released a portion of the book as part of an Amazon original short story called Zikora. Zikora follows a young Nigerian lawyer based in the US as she carries her pregnancy to full term abandoned by the child’s father and her ex-boyfriend. On Instagram, Chimamanda had promised that Zikora was part of a longer project that she was working on.
In the plot released by Penguin Random House, one of the characters in Dream Count is named Zikora.
What did Chimamanda say?
In an Instagram post on Wednesday, Chimanda spoke about the book publicly for the first time.
“DREAM COUNT is contemporary: Covid. Sexual assault inspired by a true story. Depression. A man’s extreme ‘ghosting’ of a woman. Fibroids. Teenage self-esteem. PMS. But also timeless: Injustice. Dignity. Regret. What is a full life? What does ‘meaning’ mean? DREAM COUNT is global: Brazil, Amsterdam, Conakry, Enugu, Maryland, Copenhagen, Mexico, Abuja, Korea, Santiago, Delhi, London, Cartagena, Anambra, New York, Portugal, Washington DC, Kenya, Germany, Italy, Addis, Switzerland, Zambia, Paris, Skopje, Lagos. But quintessentially African at heart,” she said.
“DREAM COUNT is provocative: Omelogor gives men helpful tips in a blog called “For Men Only.”
And multi-faceted: Zikora is devoutly Catholic. Kadiatou is a Muslim. Omelogor is agnostic. Chia is a dreamer. DREAM COUNT revels in language. Some sentences sing, some are poetic, all are truth-seeking, especially about love. Solid have-your-back-for-life love between friends. Romantic love. The one who could have loved you. The one you want to love but can’t. The one you love but can’t call love. The one who should have stayed. DREAM COUNT is serious and curious and probing and funny. The writing process has been arduous and has also been filled with ardor. I am deeply excited about this book. I am so proud to have finished it. I cannot wait for my wonderful fans to read it,” she added.
Storyline
Dream Count follows Chiamaka, “alone in the midst of the pandemic, as she recalls her past lovers and grapples with her choices and regrets. Zikora, her best friend, is a lawyer who has been successful at everything until—betrayed and brokenhearted—she must turn to the person she thought she needed least. Omelogor, Chiamaka’s bold, outspoken cousin, is a financial powerhouse in Nigeria who begins to question how well she knows herself. And Kadiatou, Chiamaka’s housekeeper, is proudly raising her daughter in America—but faces an unthinkable hardship that threatens all she has worked to achieve.”
What should you expect?
According to a post by Random House, Dream Count is about the love and heartbreaks that the women endure. “In Dream Count, Adichie trains her fierce eye on these women in a sparkling, transcendent novel that takes up the very nature of love itself. Is true happiness ever attainable or is it just a fleeting state? And how honest must we be with ourselves in order to love, and to be loved?” it says.
“A trenchant reflection on the choices we make and those made for us, on daughters and mothers, on our interconnected world, Dream Count pulses with emotional urgency and poignant, unflinching observations of the human heart, in language that soars with beauty and power. It confirms Adichie’s status as one of the most exciting and dynamic writers on the literary landscape.”
This is Chimamanda’s first feature-length novel in 11 years. Her last was Americanah. In 2023, she published her first children’s book Mama’s Sleeping Scarf.
