A woman chops off her finger to demonstrate her fidelity to her lover. A mother loses her mind upon discovering that her husband has left her and their only child. An artist seeks to unravel why his neighbour's face enchants him. A passenger on a bus acts as an emissary of death. Meet some of the characters in Double Wahala Double Trouble, a collection of eleven stories by the award-winning poet, short story writer, children's novelist, and literary scholar. In this stunning collection, Umezurike lures the reader into a journey of the absurd and the grisly to show us men and women struggling to live, desire, love, and thrive against the eddy of troubles in their world.
"Umezurike's stories exhibit a range of events, from everyday breakups to rebel military clashes to small-time, small-town opportunists. But at the heart of these stories is the breakdown of relationships, particularly between parents and children. Umezurike has portrayed a world in which too often pride and self-doubt cloud the decisions of adults who shape the futures of their children. The effect on the characters is sometimes baffling, sometimes humorous, often tragic; in these stories, everyone is a victim of someone else's yearnings. Certainly, there are big yearnings in this collection. But Umezurike's clear strength is his ability to show how even the smallest yearning can also be a big wahala."
-Bertrand Bickersteth, author of The Response of Weeds
"Double Wahala, Double Trouble does everything a work of fiction should do-shock and impress at the same time. Each story here is beautifully crafted, with characters that will linger in the reader's mind long after the reading. Umezurike is a writer with a bright future."
- Helon Habila, author of Travellers
"Each of Umezurike's stories leads the reader down a comfortable path, until it is abruptly uncomfortable. His consistent skill in twisting plot lines and the driving needs of his characters is rare in short story collections, no matter where they take place. Lost family, betrayals, the idea-and illusion-of home, and grand, fierce gestures of love flow through this book. Reader: let these outstanding stories wash over you."
- Kimmy Beach, author of Nuala: A Fable
"In these compelling stories, Umezurike limns the lives of ordinary people trying to survive whichever way they can. Whether he is writing about a lover who makes a disturbing and unexpected sacrifice to secure her love or a man who loses his life in a case of mistaken identity, Umezurike's prose shines like something very carefully polished."
- Chika Unigwe, author of Better Never Than Late
Uchechukwu Peter Umezurike holds a PhD in English from the University of Alberta. He is a poet, fiction writer, essayist, and literary journalist. An alumnus of the International Writing Program, Iowa, USA, Umezurike is a recipient of the James Patrick Folinsbee Memorial Scholarship in Creative Writing from the University of Alberta and the Norma Epstein Foundation Award for Creative Writing from the University of Toronto, among many honours. He is a co-editor of Wreaths for a Wayfarer, an anthology of poems. His children's book, Wish Maker, is forthcoming from Masobe Books in the fall of 2021. He lives in Edmonton, Alberta.
