Patience Is a Subtle Thief: A Novel

Written by Abi Ishola-Ayodeji

Narrated by Liz Femi

Hope and circumstance define a young woman’s life in this heartbreaking tale of lost innocence, set in politically volatile 1990s Nigeria, from an exciting and fresh voice in global literature. 

For as long as she can remember, Patience Adewale, the eldest daughter of Chief Kolade Adewale, has been waiting for confirmation that she is loved, that there is a place where she truly belongs. Patience lives a sheltered life within the secure walls of the family’s mansion in Ibadan, but finds no comfort from her distant father and stepmother Modupe. Her only ally is her younger sister, yet even Margaret’s love and support cannot overcome Patience’s insecurity and uncertainty.

More than anything, Patience wants to know why her father and uncle banished her mother from their compound years ago—and whether her mother is even alive. Determined to discover the truth, Patience embarks on a desperate search to find her mother. Answers begin to surface when she moves to Lagos for university and unexpectedly reconnects with her cousin Kash.

Kash and his friend Emeka are petty thieves with an opportunity to make a big score. To pull it off they need help—and enlist Patience and Emeka’s straight-arrow brother, Chike, to become partners in their scheme. The thieves’ plan is to quit after this job. But unforeseen events lead to unexpected consequences—and demand a price from Patience that may be too steep to pay.

Suspenseful and evoking the subtleties of Nigerian life in an fresh and unexpected way, Patience Is a Subtle Thief is a heart-wrenching story of one young woman’s precarious journey to adulthood, and the risks and sacrifices it takes to follow her heart.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperAudio
• Release date: May 3, 2022
• ISBN: 9780063116986

Abi Ishola-Ayodeji

Abi Ishola-Ayodeji is an award winning journalist who has written for several publications including ELLE.com, Essence, The Huffington Post, and Ebony. In 2017 she was named among Essence Magazine’s Woke 100 Women for launching Beyond Classically Beautiful, a photo series that celebrates the diverse beauty of Black women. For Channel 75 in New York, she’s produced several documentaries, including one on the opening of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture and a four part series titled “Enter West Africa” for which she covered different issues plaguing Nigeria and Ghana.

Reviews for Patience Is a Subtle Thief

[Chidiebele Okobi · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Beautiful through and through….. I’ll definitely recommend. I’d even read again.

[Addna36 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Very captivating story. Engrossing. The intertwining of historical events makes the story even more vivid. A happy but sad ending.

[Simeon · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Loved listening to this book.

Some of the depictions were very relatable from my upbringing as a child in Nigeria.
The author also has a way of bringing a scene alive in your imagination.

[Joshua Luis Tre Van · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

It made me want to swallow cocaine and fly over seas and score a big chunk of change. To be a real mule. Loved it! A coming of age story with a great romantic love story.

[D Makhathini · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

A story about a young girl named Patience who leaves home to study in Lagos but ends up dropping out of University in pursuit of raising funds to travel to USA to find her mother, with whom she was seperated when she was much younger.