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Reading the ceiling

By Dayo Forster

It is Ayodele's eighteenth birthday in her native Gambia - it is the day she has decided to lose her virginity. She's drawn up a short list: Reuben, the failsafe; Yuan a long-admired school friend; Frederick Adams, the 42-year-old, soon-to-be-pot-bellied father of her best friend. Ayodele's life will tread a different path according to this night's decision; but how can she know which one to choose? Tracing each of Ayodele's possible stories, Reading the Ceiling takes us from Gambia, to London, to Boston and Mali as Ayodele confronts dilemmas universal to women across the globe: what do we settle for, how long do we wait for love - and what are the consequences of our decisions? Dayo Forster's first novel is a remarkable achievement: fresh, funny and wholly authentic, it paints a compelling portrait of the modern African experience for women.