In his exploration of the mysterious and the murderous, of the terrors that can take hold of the human mind, of the colors of life in Africa, with its vibrant fabrics and its trees laden with fruit, and most of all in his ability to create dramatic tension in this most human of African stories, ­Chigozie Obioma truly is the heir to ­Chinua Achebe.

Set in 1990s Nigeria against a backdrop of modernisation, westernisation and political upheaval, The Fishermen tells the story of four brothers whose lives are destroyed by a madman’s prophecy. Using myth to great effect, Obioma explores the customs of the community of Akure, detailing how the fates of its people are intricately linked to their beliefs.

The narrator is nine-year-old Benjamin, the youngest of the brothers, whose imaginative world view lends a striking voice to the tale. In a book that is loaded with metaphor, where parents speak in parables to warn their children of danger, many of the chapters start with Ben likening his family to animals: “Ikenna was a python: A wild snake that became a monstrous serpent living on trees, on plains above other snakes.” These comparisons mark changes in characters and presage the dangers to come.