A Season in Bedlam

A picaresque novel describing the adventures of Adrian Mathews, a young car salesman who successfully applies for a job as MD of a company formed to distribute Japanese cars in Nigeria. On arrival Mathews finds that the company exists only in the imagination of Chief Johnson, his employer. There are no premises or trained staff and a team of Japanese inspectors is expected shortly to check that all is ready to receive the first shipment of cars. As he tries to come to terms with the chaos of life in Lagos and to adapt to Nigerian business standards, Mathews has the help of Babatunde, the Chief’s playboy nephew and a romantic attachment to Ingeborg, the beautiful wife of a senior Nigerian lawyer, provides some relief from the succession of crises that confront him from the moment of arrival. Chief Johnson loses interest in the Motor Trade once the cars arrive and Mathews becomes involved in a scheme to deliver petrol to a fleet of trawlers belonging to a business associate. The true purpose of the operation is to smuggle petrol abroad – a crime carrying the death penalty - and Mathews is confronted with the need to make a hurried exit.