Everything Good Will Come
| Author | Sefi Atta |
|---|---|
| Country | Nigeria |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Fiction |
| Published | 2005 (Interlink Books) |
| Media type | novel |
| Pages | 336 pages |
| Awards | Wole Soyinka Prize for African Literature |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 57075862 |
Everything Good Will Come is a coming-of-age novel by Sefi Atta about a girl growing into a woman in postcolonial Nigeria and England. It was published by Interlink World Fiction in 2005. Throughout the novel the main character, Enitan, is faced with various personal entangelements connected with family troubles, rape, cheating boyfriends, and imprisonment. The novel is also a biting commentary on post-independence governments in Nigeria and tensions between Igbo (Biafrans), Yoruba, and Hausa ethnic groups after the Biafrian War.
Everything Good Will Come is a bildungsroman that tells the story of Enitan, a young Nigerian woman growing up in her native homeland coping with the demands of the patriarchal society that encompasses her. Enitan is raised in a divided home struggling to identify herself in the midst of her mother’s strong religious beliefs and her father’s manipulative political ways. Due to her being an only child and the death of her brother, her parents have strict demands that restrict her from having a normal childhood. Her rebellious nature is first seen when she defies her mother’s wishes and leaves the house on Sundays to play with the girl next door, Sheri, who is considered "yellow" because her father is Muslim and her mother is a white English woman. Sheri is a sassy young girl sassy with a rebellious nature, constantly testing those around her, while craving the attention of any male. Their friendship builds as they continue to defy Enitan’s mother by seeing each other. The girls are soon forced to separate; Enitan is sent to a school abroad to receive a better education than that offered in Lagos. Her father, an educated lawyer, wants the best for her and hopes she will take over his firm once she has finished school and proves herself as a lawyer. Sheri and Enitan keep in touch, writing letters back and forth about school, boys, and when they will meet again. During a holiday visit home, Enitan and Sheri meet up and go to a party. Enitan, who doesn’t feel comfortable in the situation, wants to leave. On her way out, she witnesses the three men pinning Sheri down raping her and bruising her body as they degrade her. The image of Sheri’s rape affects Enitan’s ability to allow herself to trust men. The aftermath of Sheri’s rape leads to a partial termination of their friendship and Sheri being sent to the hospital due to an attempt to give herself an abortion.
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