Speak No Evil Read online

  Steph—from tentative words before creative writing workshops in college to lengthy catch-ups on the phone, I cherish our conversations about life, literature, and love. Your eyes on this manuscript, the hours we spent on the phone slogging through my characters’ and my own motivations, the calming confidence of your voice, all while you were working on your own writing and a baby—my words are inadequate.

  Zahra—you literally (he he he . . . I know not funny . . . but so so funny) listened to me read whole drafts of this book out loud and we are still friends. I don’t think you can comprehend what that means to me. You’ve been an unequivocal force for good in my life and my work and I value your honesty like nothing else.

  Friends of the Cause

  Elliot—we may be older, but your insistence in our days of youth that I should trust and do what feels right still means everything. Onyi—what would I be without eighteen years of our walking and talking through matters of the heart? Kayode—I have embarked on no missions without your strategic counsel and this is no exception. Thenji—you always listen when it matters, and you have always helped me find the truth. Robin—because you’ve said repeatedly the world wouldn’t end yet and it hasn’t. Robin—because your calm and caring have kept me alive since 2007 and because you introduced me to kale. Nell—there can never be enough molten chocolate cake outings with you. Megan—we will always have Bellagio. Dan—we will always have 478 CPW. Eileen—we will always have gummy bears on Bushwick rooftops. Purvi—because diamonds are forever. Amelia—because you can see a world I can’t see and because you are bold in ways that make me more bold. Steve—because we know the world we want to live in, and we’re going to make it happen. Annie—some of the best things come out of Park City and editing on the floor of your parents’ house was perfect. Safiya—because you stay waking me up. Anjali—because our commitment to utter foolishness is the seed of true greatness. Ore—because you keep your promises even if I can’t. Nayeema—because we only just met and yet your words and encouragement were so crucial in that last mile. Sarah—because there will be more joint creativity to come for sure, thank you for your assurance. Charlotte—parce que peut-etre que tu lirais ce roman. Nedra—because Brooklyn neighbors can be soulmates. Ruthie—because the quest for creativity and cash-producing assets gets real. Julie—because ten years later we’re still doing it in Africa, America, wherever, and you will always be a guiding light. Ines—because three words: Italian, hot, sauce, and because you are uncompromisingly direct. Dwayne—(my two-years-removed twin brother from another mother) because you know our city and for your eyes on a crucial chapter (and for your Facebook feed). RL—because you don’t know it, but you made me feel differently and that changed this book for the better. Lauren—because your words, “it’s not how pretty you look while you’re doing it, it’s whether you cross the finish line” have kept me in this race. Olivia—because you are so earnest. Adama—because, we can have that gin and tonic now, but really only one. Tamara—because you have helped me believe. And Sierra—because the struggle continues. To all of you and those not named, thank you most for listening.

  Ventures Africa family—thank you. Building on Bond—(Esther and Len) I know . . . I know . . . the same damn thing every single day. But that charred kale salad tho. (See how I did that, Jennifer). Yaddo—you are probably the scariest place to write a book, but it worked out and the black guy (that’s me) lived. Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center—you are the most beautiful place to write a book. Take me back. Radcliffe ’12, stay representing.

  My Family

  Daddy and Mommy—I just want you to be proud of me. You’ve been so supportive and so encouraging every step of the way. I feel so lucky to have such wonderful, loving, caring, and invested parents. Your example is what I strive for, and I promise I will keep striving.

  Onyi, Okechukwu, Uchechi—the world’s greatest siblings. I have this picture of all of us from 1996 sitting on my desk that makes me so happy every time I feel down. I also just want you to be proud of me. More than that, I want you to know that I’m so so proud of all of you. Each one of you is an example of strength and creativity for me in a different way and each one of you makes me laugh with real joy in a different way. Andrew and Chioma—I love how y’all read my work faster than your other halves. For my purposes, they chose wisely. But really, you’re two of a kind and I can’t imagine life without you. Adaora, Emeka, Kelechi—I hope that by the time you are old enough to read this book, the world is a truly different place. Uncle Chi-Chi and Auntie Uju—we may not always agree but your wisdom is so important to me.

  Beckett—Meow meow. Meow meow meow. Meeeeeeeeeeow.

  Iweala out

  P.S. If at this point you’re still reading, and you recognized the song references in the text, and you can figure out how to reach me, and you’re not related to me—I don’t know . . . I’ll bake you cookies or something.

  About the Author

  Uzodinma Iweala is the author of the acclaimed novel Beasts of No Nation, winner of the Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction, the Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction from the Academy of Arts and Letters, the New York Public Library Young Lions 2006 Fiction Award, and the 2006 John Llewellyn Rhys Prize. In 2007 he was selected as one of Granta’s Best Young American Novelists. A graduate of Harvard University and the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, he lives in New York City and Lagos, Nigeria.

  Discover great authors, exclusive offers, and more at hc.com.

  Also by Uzodinma Iweala

  Our Kind of People: A Continent’s Challenge, a Country’s Hope

  Beasts of No Nation

  Copyright

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  speak no evil. Copyright © 2018 by Uzodinma Iweala. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

  first edition

  Cover design by Milan Bozic

  Cover photograph © donatas1205/Getty Images

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data has been applied for.

  Digital Edition MARCH 2018 ISBN: 978-0-06-219909-6

  Print ISBN: 978-0-06-128492-2

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