the journey's end

When Akumaóa youthful African government secondary school teacheróleaves his hometown and goes to the capital city, hardly does he know that he will be paralyzed and will not be able to use his legs again. The Journeyís End is a character-driven narrative that explores the lives of two men who meet in YaoundÈ, the capital cityóLucas Wango (an elderly pensioner who comes to collect his back pay of seven yearsí pension money) and Akuma (a physically challenged man who helps him recover his pension arrears). Wango doesnít know that Akuma, aka GÈnÈral, is a mobster and the boss of a city gang that commands and controls a better part of the metropolis. Running parallel to this central plot are two subplots that eventually converge at the end of the novelóLucas Wangoís meddling in and eventual frustration with national political life and GÈnÈralís relationship with Martina, a woman he falls in love with in the city. Set in the rural African landscape of Yambe and Menamo (Akumaís home village which he left to come to the city) and the urban backdrop of the rapidly populated city of YaoundÈ, The Journeyís End epitomizes the predicament of Africaís expanding slum-cities, characterized by poverty, corruption, and survival-driven individuality. For whom does the journey end ñ remains an absorbing question that animates every single page in this extraordinary urban adventure.

• No of Pages: 120
• Category: Fiction
• Year Published: 2016