One wonders what drew Dede Daro, a foreign-trained activist journalist, and Franka Udi, a former beauty queen, into a state of matrimony. One is hard-pressed to find the matter of the moment urgent enough to propel the two into a fated marriage. The ripples of the doomed relationship went further than they would have ever imagined.<BR><BR>Dede and Franka Daro have overriding ambitions destroy their marriage and, after bitter divorce and child custody cases, set out individually not only to redeem themselves from the blatant lies they told against the other in court but also to achieve their life objectives. Dede, who relishes his popularity as an activist journalist, writes a column for The African Patriot and emerges as a major voice against the military dictatorship of General Ogiso. Franka, who has experienced harrowing poverty, wants to live comfortably, and her initial love disappointments made her more determined to succeed in life and eventually rises to be Minister of Culture. The divorced pair gets involved with the military regime, which eventually collapses, with some weekend papers ironically proclaiming Franka and Dede as heroes for removing a totalitarian regime.<BR><BR>... All in all, I find this work compelling reading and timely, even though the fictional picture is set against the background of political events that happened over ten years ago. It is as though the author is implying that reality might last a mere decade, but the cascading power of fiction is eternal. In this attempt at another political novel, Ojaide has written with an ear close to the tumultuous happenings in his land, and in scenes that manifest both the challenges towards goodness and the absurdity of life." - -Syl Cheney-Coker, veteran poet and author of award-winning The Last Harmattan of Alusine Dunbar.<BR><BR>A Fellow in Writing of the University of Iowa, Tanure Ojaide was educated at the University of Ibadan, where he took a Bachelor's degree in English, and both the MA in Creative Writing and PhD in English at Syracuse University. His poetry awards include the Commonwealth Poetry Prize for the Africa Region (1987), the All-Africa Okigbo Prize for Poetry (1988, 1997), the BBC Arts and Africa Poetry Award (1988), and the Association of Nigerian Authors Poetry Award (1988, 1994, and 2003). He is also the recipient of the 2006 UNC Charlotte's First Citizens Bank Scholar Medal Award for his writing and academic accomplishments. Ojaide taught for many years at the University of Maiduguri (Nigeria), and is currently Professor of African-American and African Studies at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, where he teaches African/Pan-African literature and art.