Dream Count

A novel

By: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Narrated by: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Sandra Okuboyejo, A'rese Emokpae, Janina Edwards

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • GLOBE AND MAIL BESTSELLER • LOS ANGELES TIMES BESTSELLER • FINALIST FOR THE 2025 ORWELL PRIZE FOR POLITICAL FICTION • LONGLISTED FOR THE 2025 WOMEN’S PRIZE FOR FICTION • LONGLISTED FOR THE 2026 DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD • A Heather’s Pick • NPR’s Books We Love • Named a Best Book of 2025 by The New Yorker • Barnes & Noble • Kirkus • Financial Times • The Washington Post • The Irish Times • The Observer • The Guardian

A publishing event ten years in the making—a searing, exquisite new novel by the bestselling and award-winning author of Americanah and We Should All Be Feminists—the story of four women and their loves, longings, and desires.

Chiamaka is a Nigerian travel writer living in America. Alone in the midst of the pandemic, she recalls her past lovers and grapples with her choices and regrets. Zikora, her best friend, is a lawyer who has been successful at everything until—betrayed and brokenhearted—she must turn to the person she thought she needed least. Omelogor, Chiamaka’s bold, outspoken cousin, is a financial powerhouse in Nigeria who begins to question how well she knows herself. And Kadiatou, Chiamaka’s housekeeper, is proudly raising her daughter in America—but faces an unthinkable hardship that threatens all she has worked to achieve.

In Dream Count, Adichie trains her fierce eye on these women in a sparkling, transcendent novel that takes up the very nature of love itself. Is true happiness ever attainable or is it just a fleeting state? And how honest must we be with ourselves in order to love, and to be loved? A trenchant reflection on the choices we make and those made for us, on daughters and mothers, on our interconnected world, Dream Count pulses with emotional urgency and poignant, unflinching observations of the human heart, in language that soars with beauty and power. It confirms Adichie’s status as one of the most exciting and dynamic writers on the literary landscape.

A great validation of the four Jungian female archetypes

Dreamcount is a very fine introduction into femininity! Adichie pulls back a curtain on the often misjudged complexities of womanhood and girlhood. I would recommend it to everyone who somehow struggles to understand the woman in their lives.

Fascinating glimpse into affluent and working black worlds

I loved the characters, their struggles, their solidarity and most of all, their African community. I learned so much about how little I know.

Fantastic voices

I loved learning about these African women’s experiences in America and Africa and Europe, etc. it was a great window into these four different characters all of whom I loved