Esperance by Adam Oyebanji
Narrated by Délé Ogundiran
A novel set in a dystopian future devastated by climate change.
DAW, 2025; audiobook: Dreamscape Media, 2025.
Full review: Esperance by Adam Oyebanji⩘
Character list
- Detective Lieutenant Ethan Krol in Chicago, investigating a bizarre murder that took place in an upper floor of an apartment building; Ethan is a racist who is troubled by his daughter, Kiera's upcoming wedding to a Black man; Ethan also has an inoperable terminal brain tumor.
- Amadi Okoro, a 25-yr-old Nigerian man and father, and Benedict Okoro, his 1-yr-old son, are the victims of the bizarre murder; they appear to have drowned in sea water even though the nearest ocean is a thousand miles away.
- Jennifer Freeman Okoro, wife, survives the murder.
- A. Bello, the alias name the probable murderer used to sign into the apartment building; it's also the name of the first Prime Minister of Nigeria; actual name Yemi
- Abidemi (Abi) Eniola, a time traveler; she claims to be from Nigeria and is in Bristol, trying to find Kirsty Forbes née Robinson, a descendant of the ship Esperance’s captain; the Esperance docked in Bristol in the 18th Century.
- Hollie Rogers, a Brit goth, is bumped into by Abidemi, and they team up.
- Detective Lieutenant Nicole Gutierrez in Providence, Rhode Island, where a similar bizarre murder has taken place.
- A planet called Ibi Aabo, home to the descendants of the enslaved people the Esperance’s captain cruelly discarded.
Full review: Esperance by Adam Oyebanji⩘

