Once Upon Our Childhood

Book excerpt: The plan is simple for Lara and her best friends – make the most of their final high school year together before they part ways soon. Too bad secrets won’t let them. A slow start to the school term leads to a steep drop into a rabbit hole of secrets rearing their ugly heads – think a hidden disorder, a predatory relationship, a second family, a shock diagnosis, a resurrected marriage, and more. The anticipated drama-free year goes off the rails as past and present secrets unravel at a breathless pace. The revelations spark a chain of unprecedented reactions that send the four friends reeling as they face impossible choices. They can sacrifice their friendships to keep carefully constructed houses of cards from falling. Or maybe it is past time to rip apart the frail safety nets woven by a pervasive culture of silence. Set in the brawling, cosmopolitan city of Lagos, Nigeria, Once Upon Our Childhood examines the hydra-headed nature of abuse through the raw, insightful, and sometimes, snarky voices of four diverse characters.