Praise
There is a mythic quality to Tochi Eze’s writing, an expansiveness of vision. This Kind of Trouble gripped my heart and my imagination with its intricate tapestry of humanity.
— Tsering Yangzom Lama, author of We Measure the Earth with Our Bodies
An immersive and bewitching tale of family, fortune, love, and all that is sacrificed in pursuit of it. With masterful craft, Eze guides the reader through alternating years and perspectives to illuminating cumulative effect. This Kind of Trouble is gorgeous, a promising debut signifying the emergence of an important new talent.
—Dantiel W. Moniz, author of Milk Blood Heat
In THIS KIND OF TROUBLE, Tochi Eze has crafted a taut narrative of dislocation and estrangement that is also a moving story of love and generational change. A wrenching, propulsive, and unforgettable debut.
—Bruce Holsinger, author of The Gifted School and The Displacements
This Kind of Trouble is an incandescent and moving portrait of star-crossed lovers caught between the weight of tradition, the silent trials of mental illness, and the family secrets carried across generations. In turns tender and unflinchingly honest, Tochi Eze explores the quiet courage it takes to live in a world where duty and desire are often at odds. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this intimate, emotionally resonant, and profoundly human story.
- francesca ekwuyasi, author of Butter Honey Pig Bread
A sweeping and captivating tale about what happens when love and history collide.
- Nadia Owusu, author of Aftershocks
With the gravity of something ancient and the insight of something very contemporary, THIS KIND OF TROUBLE movingly traces the cracks of family's fractured history across a century. In her richly layered debut, Tochi Eze spins a complex and heart-wrenching tale, asking profound questions about belief, betrayal, and what it is that we inherit.
—Temim Fruchter, author of City of Laughter
Deftly woven and beautifully conceived, in her riveting debut novel THIS KIND OF TROUBLE, Tochi Eze brilliantly chronicles the weight and wonders of love, spirit and ancestry with grit, elegance and remarkable power.
—Mai Sennaar, author of They Dream In Gold
In beautiful prose, Eze delivers an unflinching exploration of love, familial ties, and alienation . . . and the painful legacies that endure.
—Chioma Okereke, author of Bitter Leaf and Water Baby
This Kind of Trouble
A riveting, emotionally-charged tale of forbidden love, centered on an estranged couple who are brought together to reckon with the events that tore their family apart decades ago.
In 1960s Lagos, a city enlivened with its newfound independence, headstrong Margaret meets British-born Benjamin, a man seeking his roots after the death of his half-Nigerian father. Their connection is immediate, but as the two begin to fall in love, they discover their pasts are more interwoven than they imagined. The shadow of events which unfolded almost a century ago, combined with Margaret’s deteriorating mental health, eventually tear them apart.
By 2005, Margaret has retired to an upscale gated community in Lagos, and seemingly happy Benjamin lives alone in Atlanta, managing his heart problems with no options when asked to name as his next of kin. But their attempt at a settled life is shattered when their grandson begins to show ominous signs echoing the struggles Margaret once faced. The long estranged couple are forced to reunite to confront the buried secrets they had dismissed in the passion of their youth—secrets that continue to ripple through their family.
A startling and propulsive tale of forbidden love, This Kind of Trouble traces the intertwined legacies of one family’s history, exploring the complex relationship between tradition, modernity, and the ways we seek healing in a changing world.
