In Dependence: summary for JAMB

About the novel

In Dependence is a novel by Sarah Ladipo Manyika, a Nigerian-British writer who grew up in Nigeria. It was her first novel. It was first published in London in 2008, and the Nigerian edition came out from Cassava Republic Press in 2009. JAMB used it as the Use of English novel for UTME 2017 and 2018.

Note the title: two words, "In Dependence". It plays on two ideas: independence (Nigeria becoming free in 1960) and dependence (how people, and the country, still lean on others).

It is a love story that runs for almost forty years, from the early 1960s to about the year 2000. Tayo Ajayi, a brilliant young Nigerian, goes to study at Oxford University in England, where he falls in love with Vanessa Richardson, the daughter of a former British colonial officer. Their love is tested by race, family, distance, Nigeria's coups and civil war, and their own mistakes.

Much of the story is told through the letters the characters write to each other. The story moves between Nigeria, England, France, Senegal and America.

The story, part 1: Oxford (1960s)

Tayo Ajayi, a bright young man from Ibadan, wins a scholarship to Balliol College, Oxford. He sails from Lagos to England on a ship called the Aureol. While abroad, he writes letters home to his father.

At Oxford he has a short affair with Christine Arinze, a Nigerian girl raised in England. Then, at a meeting of the West Africa Society, he meets Vanessa Richardson, a young English woman whose father worked in colonial Nigeria. Tayo gives her a pet name: "Moremi", after the brave Yoruba heroine. They fall in love.

Tayo faces racism in England. At Christmas with Vanessa's family, a white South African guest mistakes Tayo for a servant.

During an Easter trip to Paris, Tayo learns that Christine has killed herself with an overdose. He had told Vanessa that Christine was his "cousin". When Vanessa finds out the truth, she is angry, but they make up on New Year's Eve when Tayo cooks for her.

Tayo also visits his cousin Tunde and his friend Yusuf in Bradford. A party there to celebrate the independence of The Gambia ends in a fight, and the three of them are arrested. Yusuf later marries a woman named Joy Williams instead of his girlfriend Joyce.

The story, part 2: Going home (late 1960s)

Tayo graduates from Oxford with a First Class degree. Vanessa's father, Mr Richardson, warns Tayo to stay away from his daughter.

When Tayo's father falls ill, Tayo gives up further study abroad and goes home to Nigeria. These are troubled years: the military coups of 1966, and then the civil war.

Tayo stops writing to Vanessa. Worried, she flies to Lagos to find him. There he confesses that another woman is pregnant by him: Miriam, the nurse who cared for his sick father. Heartbroken, Vanessa ends the relationship.

By 1970, Vanessa is working as a journalist for Reuters in Dakar, Senegal. She becomes close friends with Salamatou, a hairdresser, who has a mixed-race son named Suleiman.

The story, part 3: Many years later (1980s – 2000)

Tayo marries Miriam and they have a daughter, Kemi. He becomes a professor and a writer who speaks out against military rule. His mother dies in a road accident, and military rule returns.

By 1990, Miriam and Kemi have moved to England. Under military rule, Tayo suffers: he is detained for showing a film called The Harder They Come, and in 1994 soldiers beat him at a roadblock.

Tayo writes a biography (life story) of Lord Lugard, the British colonial governor of Nigeria. The research takes him to England, where he meets Vanessa again after many years. She is now married to Edward Barker, and after Salamatou died, she adopted Salamatou's son, Suleiman. Tayo and Vanessa start writing letters to each other again.

On the way to the airport to meet Vanessa, Tayo is badly injured in a car crash that kills his driver, Abdou. He recovers in San Francisco, where his daughter Kemi lives. He learns that Miriam has been quietly paying for his treatment.

Vanessa learns a family secret: her mother once had an affair with Danjuma, the family's gardener in Nigeria.

After military rule ends in 1999, Oxford University gives Tayo an honorary doctorate at the Sheldonian Theatre. At the ceremony, Tayo and Vanessa slip away together. The ending is left open.

Main characters

• Tayo Ajayi: the hero. A brilliant scholar from Ibadan; studies at Balliol College, Oxford, and graduates with a First. Later a professor, writer and critic of military rule. He finds it hard to make up his mind.
• Vanessa Richardson (later Vanessa Barker): Tayo's great love. Daughter of a former colonial officer; later a Reuters journalist in Dakar. Tayo calls her "Moremi".
• Mr Richardson: Vanessa's father, a former colonial officer in Nigeria. He is against her relationship with Tayo.
• Mrs Richardson: Vanessa's mother. She once had an affair with the gardener, Danjuma.
• Tayo's father (Baba): rose from court messenger to interpreter to police inspector. His illness brings Tayo home.
• Miriam: the nurse who cared for Tayo's father. She becomes Tayo's wife and the mother of Kemi.
• Kemi: Tayo and Miriam's daughter, who later lives in San Francisco.
• Christine Arinze: Tayo's early lover at Oxford. She dies by suicide.
• Uncle Kayode: Tayo's favourite uncle, an army officer.
• Salamatou: Vanessa's friend in Dakar, a hairdresser.
• Suleiman: Salamatou's son, adopted by Vanessa.
• Edward Barker: Vanessa's husband, whom Tayo first met at Oxford.
• Yusuf and Tunde: Tayo's friend and cousin in Bradford.
• Abdou: Tayo's driver, killed in the car crash.

Themes and lessons

• Independence and dependence: Nigeria is free but still depends on the West; Tayo, proud of being independent, ends up depending on others, including Miriam.
• Love across race and class: Tayo and Vanessa's love faces racism and family opposition.
• The colonial past: Lord Lugard, the Richardsons and colonial attitudes still shape lives.
• Disappointment after independence: coups, civil war, military rule and the decline of universities.
• Leaving home: Nigerians abroad, identity and the "brain drain".
• Choices, secrets and second chances: Tayo's indecision, Mrs Richardson's secret, and a reunion late in life.

Style: much of the story is told through letters. It moves across many years and many countries.

Quick facts for JAMB

• Author: Sarah Ladipo Manyika.
• Title: two words, "In Dependence".
• Tayo's college: Balliol College, Oxford.
• The ship Tayo sailed on: the Aureol.
• Tayo's pet name for Vanessa: "Moremi".
• Christine Arinze died by suicide (an overdose).
• The Bradford party celebrated The Gambia's independence.
• Yusuf married Joy Williams.
• Tayo's father: court messenger, then interpreter, then police inspector.
• Tayo's wife: Miriam, a nurse. Their daughter: Kemi.
• Vanessa worked for Reuters in Dakar.
• Vanessa's friend: Salamatou. The adopted son: Suleiman.
• Vanessa's husband: Edward Barker.
• Tayo wrote a biography of Lord Lugard.
• Tayo was detained for showing the film The Harder They Come.
• Tayo's driver who died in the crash: Abdou.
• Tayo received an honorary doctorate from Oxford at the Sheldonian.