Season of Crimson Blossoms, by Abubakar Adam Ibrahim

An affair between 55-year-old widow Binta Zubairu and 25-year-old weed dealer Reza was bound to provoke condemnation in conservative Northern Nigeria. Brought together in unusual circumstances, Binta and Reza faced a need they could only satisfy in each other.

Binta, a grandmother of five, yearns for intimacy after sexual repression of her marriage, the pain of losing her first son and the privations of widowhood. Meanwhile, Reza seeks to lessen the pain estrangement from his mother, and the increasingly remote link to his father, by seeking solace in an unconventional emotional and physical relationship.