My Life in the Bush of Ghosts

by Amos Tutuola

Overview

Amos Tutuola’s second novel recounting the fate of mortals who stray into the world of ghosts, now available in a standalone volume

First published in 1954, now acclaimed as a modern classic, and named one of TIME’s “100 Best Fantasy Books of All Time,” My Life in the Bush of Ghosts is the second novel by the Nigerian writer Amos Tutuola. A small boy finds himself lost in the heart of an impenetrable African forest, populated with fantastical beings and ghosts. As every hunter and traveler knows, it is almost impossible to leave the bush—yet the appearance of the television-handed ghostess may offer him a rare opportunity for escape. My Life in the Bush of Ghosts is a masterpiece of the surreal that blends Tutuola’s native Yoruba culture with the encroaching influences of British and Christian colonialism in West Africa, a picaresque and darkly funny journey that is unique in literature. 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780802164001
Publisher:	Grove/Atlantic, Inc.
Publication date:	05/20/2025
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.25(h) x (d)

About the Author

Amos Tutuola was born in Abeokuta, Nigeria, in 1920. The son of a cocoa farmer, he attended several schools before training as a blacksmith. He later worked as a civil servant. His first novel, The Palm-Wine Drinkard, was published in 1952 and brought him international recognition. From 1956 until retirement, he worked for the Nigerian Broadcasting Company while continuing to write. His last book, The Village Witch Doctor and Other Stories, was published in 1990. He died in Ibadan in 1997. 

Editorial Reviews

Praise for My Life in the Bush of Ghosts: 

“[Tutuola] has the immediate intuition of a creative artist working by spell and incantation.”—V.S. Pritchett, New Statesman 

“A fantastic and evocative trip.”—The Saturday Review 

“A striking work of syncretism, recontextualizing previously unrecorded west African mythology by imbuing it with symbols of what was at the time a new global modernity.”—Elijah Wolfson, TIME, “The 100 Best Fantasy Books of All Time” 

“Who wouldn’t want to get enveloped in a fog of magical delight? Tutuola’s second novel is what Alice in Wonderland could have been if Lewis Carroll had imagined a world haunted by outrageous beasts and ghouls.”—Ainehi Edoro, The Guardian 

From the Publisher