Last Gift of the Master Artists

‘One of the most beautiful and profound novels I’ve read in ages’ Washington Post‘A magical take on Africa before the arrival of the Atlantic slave ships’ Independent‘Takes on the great riddles of existence’ New York TimesBy a riverbank in Africa, two lovers meet for the first time. They make a promise to meet again the next day, same time, same place, but only one of them shows up.This sounds like the beginning of a love story, but it’s more than that, for this breathtaking tale takes the reader into the heart of a vibrant world, a complex and intriguing civilisation of warriors and kings, philosophers and artists, parents and lovers. A world and culture which is about to end for, glimpsed on the horizon, seen but unsuspected, beautiful ships with white sails are waiting...

A magical take on Africa before the arrival of the Atlantic slave ships – a world of art and artists, lovers, storytellers and philosophers... The beauty of Okri's prose is [...] the overwhelming star of the show, Told with a bracing sincerity... and gnomic wisdom expressed in supple but sturdy prose, PRAISE FOR BEN OKRI: 'Where fiction's master of enchantments stares down a real horror, and without blinking or flinching, produces a work of beauty, grace and uncommon power' Marlon James, on The Freedom Artist. 'Ben Okri is that rare thing, a literary and social visionary, a writer for whom all three – literature, culture and vision – are profoundly interwoven', '[Okri's] writing takes on the great riddles of existence — freedom and consciousness, truth and illusion, suffering and transcendence — spinning them into shimmering, allegorical texts.'

Ben Okri was born in Minna, Nigeria. His childhood was divided between Nigeria, where he saw first-hand the consequences of war, and London. He has won many awards over the years, including the Booker Prize for Fiction, and is also an acclaimed essayist, playwright, and poet. In 2019 Astonishing the Gods was named as one of the BBC's '100 Novels That Shaped Our World'.