As the first book of its kind from the mother of successful British creatives, Ifeomagwu “Ify” Adenuga in her book-Endless Fortune tells her life story as a migrant. During the punishing civil war of the mid 60s, Ify’s family uprooted from Lagos, the country’s capital, to her parent’s original state in eastern Nigeria. In 1980, she exchanged the still recovering war-torn nation for the strange streets of London. There, Ify had to start a new life as a working-class immigrant and student in an environment far removed from her own in a city brimming with hostility. A year later, she met her husband Joseph Senior Adenuga, a Yoruba man, at a bingo hall in east London where they were both working migrants.
On the inspiration behind this memoir, Ify states “My life’s journey to date has been a struggle to assert my own definitions of freedom and happiness whilst also living life through my cultural and traditional lens as a Black African Christian woman migrant in the UK… With this book, I have two objectives: First, is to utilize an opportunity I missed with my parents by informing my children and subsequent grandchildren about my life growing up & how different it is to theirs, and second, is to recognise and appreciate all diasporas, regardless of where they call home. It is important to me that migrants understand that survival and success are attainable.”
Endless Fortune is a timely addition to the ongoing conversation around migration politics and immigration in the UK. With Ify Adenuga at the very heart of the story, it explores the chasm between Lagos and London and how to not only survive but thrive in a new culture and country.