GraceLand by Chris Abani. Published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York. Stated: First Edition, 2004 with sequence of numbers 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2. The lowest number "1" further indicates a First Edition/First Printing.
Hardcover book measures 6 1/4 x 9 1/2 inches and numbers 321 pages. The fictional story of Elvis, a Nigerian teenager trapped in the endless poverty and violence of the Lagos ghettos.
Authentically signed on title page in black ink: "Chris Abani." Authentically signed and inscribed on other title page in black ink: "For Kim, To blackholes and poems - Joy! Chris."
Nigerian-born author and poet Chris Abani (1966-) published his first novel, Masters of the Board (1985), at age 16. A political thriller about an attempted coup, the novel, along with subsequent anti-government plays, landed Abani in prison and eventually death row in Nigeria. With the help of friends, who bribed government officials, Abani won his release in 1991 where he fled to the United Kingdom and eventually the United States.
The "blackholes" in the book's inscription aren't referring to physics, but no doubt to Abani's time spent in the "blackholes" of brutal Nigerian prisons and ultimately death row and, perhaps, to the "blackholes" of the mind generated by such experiences.
Book is Like New in dust jacket with clean, crisp pages. Dust jacket shows some minor wear at top right corners and a little around some edges.
