The story follows the friendship of Chiamaka and Devon, the only two black students at the Niveus Private Academy, who are targeted by an anonymous texter who spreads their deepest secrets after they are both chosen to be senior class prefects. It sparked a publishers’ bidding war that ended in an eye-popping million-dollar advance.įinally published this week, Ace of Spades is one of the hottest-tipped titles of the summer on both sides of the Atlantic not for nothing was it was included on The New York Times’s reading “hotlist”. Then she promised herself to have signed a book deal by the time she graduated.Īnd that’s exactly what she did. Then, in between lectures, she used the remainder of her first term writing her contemporary young adult thriller set in a prestigious boarding school that could be in Britain, but also feels American. First, she spent seven weeks perfecting her story outline in her spare time. Àbíké-Íyímídé was accepted on to an English literature degree course on Scotland’s rugged east coast in 2017. Then, she gave herself a tight deadline – 28 days – to write it. To finish the first draft of Ace of Spades, her debut novel, the 22-year-old British-Nigerian author took herself away from south London by enrolling at university in Aberdeen. When she had something to finish, Maya Angelou would check in to a hotel room.ĭebut novelist Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé has taken a leaf out of their books.

Ernest Hemingway wrote by hand at a standing desk. Jane Austen played the piano at 9am every morning. Some of the most respected novelists had precious writing rituals that gave their work an edge and kept them ahead of the pack.

Faridah àbíké íyímídé