Before the Mango Ripens

April 1970: In newly independent Nigeria, a young man named Zanya works as a faithful translator and aide for the American missionaries who have set up post in his town of Rabata. When Zanya experiences "a miracle of fire" that propels him to prominence, he ignites a vision for Africans to take control of the Rabata mission station, leading to a major rift with the Americans.

As tensions mount and the winds of independence galvanize the nation, the lives of townspeople and missionaries intertwine: Jummai, a domestic worker for the missionaries, who becomes pregnant and must keep her lover's identity a secret; Tebeya, a progressive Dublin-educated doctor from the wealthiest family in Rabata, who makes a bold decision to take control of the mission clinic; and Katherine Parson, a mother of two, who longs for the comforts of the American Midwest and colludes with an unlikely conspirator to bring her family home.

As Zanya's story spreads, half-truths and hypocrisies are exposed, loyalties are questioned, and lives endangered. Brimming over with faith, disillusionment, and the search for belonging, Afabwaje Kurian's debut announces a brilliant new talent for readers of Imbolo Mbue and Chimamanda Adichi.