As teenagers at a Lagos secondary school, Ifemelu and Obinze fall in love. Their Nigeria is under a military dictatorship, and people are fleeing the country. Beautiful, self-assured Ifemelu departs for America, where she suffers defeats and triumphs, finds and loses relationships and friendships, and is forced to confront something she never thought about back home: race. Obinze—the quiet, thoughtful son of a professor—had hoped to join her, but post-9/11 America has closed its doors to him and he plunges into a dangerous, undocumented life in London. Fifteen years later, Obinze is a wealthy man in a newly democratic Nigeria, while Ifemelu has achieved success as the writer of an eye-opening blog about race in America. But when Ifemelu returns to Nigeria, and she and Obinze reignite their shared passion—for their homeland and for each other—they face the toughest decisions of their lives. Fearless, gripping, at once darkly funny and tender, spanning three continents and numerous lives, Americanah is a richly told story set in today’s hyper-globalized world.