The Sun Sets in Singapore

Basking in Singapore’s nonstop sunshine, low tax rate, and luxury goods market, Dara, Amaka, and Lillian are living the glamorous expat dream—until their carefully constructed lives are upended by a handsome and mysterious new arrival.

Dara, a workaholic lawyer from the UK, is on the brink of partnership at her firm. Estranged from her mother, and perpetually uncomfortable around her hypercompetitive colleagues, her insecurities intensify exponentially when Lani, a new hire from Geneva (and a fellow British Nigerian), is assigned to work on what should have been her career-making case. Pitted against each other by their boss, Dara can’t help but see Lani as a threat: a privileged man poised to take her place.

Amaka, a sharp-tongued banker from Nigeria, is in the midst of a painful family dispute. Thousands of miles away from home, she’s doing her best to distract herself with a flirtatious workplace romance—and hiding a spiraling shopping addiction that’s endangering not only her finances but her very sense of self. An instant attraction to Lani jeopardizes the last shred of stability she has.

Lillian, a pianist turned “trailing spouse” from the US, is desperately trying to stay in Singapore after her marriage comes to a messy end. Rather than sell her beloved piano, the last precious reminder she has of her parents, she takes a low-paying job at a language school. A chance encounter with Lani—a man who is inexplicably, impossibly, the spitting image of her late father—triggers a grief she’s spent a lifetime suppressing, leading to an obsession that imperils everything—and everyone—around her.

Forced to confront the ghosts of their pasts, Dara, Amaka, and Lillian soon learn that unfinished history can follow you anywhere, no matter how far you run from home.

About the Author

Kehinde Fadipe is a Royal Academy of Dramatic Art trained actress with stage and screen credits including Misfits (E4), Of Mary (Lesata Productions), and Ruined (Almeida Theatre). She began her writing career in the Royal Court Theatre's Young Writer's Program while studying English at UCL and has previously written and produced a short film, Spirit Children, starring Pippa Bennett Warner and Jenny Jules, which was screened in two international short film festivals. The Sun Sets in Singapore is her first novel. She continues to write both fiction and screenplays.