One Boy! : A Boarding School Memoir, livre ebook

One Boy! is an emotionally charged—and at times even humorous—coming-of-age story. In his debut work of creative non-fiction, Benjamin Maiangwa draws readers into the world of a boy navigating the space between youthful innocence and the harsh realities of a Catholic boarding school in Nigeria.
Maiangwa’s journey unfolds across a landscape shaped by the fragility of friendship, loss, and the urgent search for self. As he matures within the strict confines of the boarding school and the religious hostilities of the outside world, he arrives at a moral crossroads: should he uphold the Christian virtue of forgiveness or yield to the seductive pull of revenge?
One Boy! is both a story of survival and a meditation on what it means to remain whole in a world that so often seems designed to break us.

We were about eighty-five new students. The seniors who lingered nearby kept a watchful eye on us. They were weighing us as though we were livestock being auctioned at a farmer’s market. They were waiting for our parents to entrust us to their care as school sons. The seniors present displayed a cheerful demeanour, a suave politeness that struck me as promising on this first day. It felt like a hopeful herald of an auspicious future for us in this new world.

About the Cover Art
List of Figures
Prefac
Dedication
Acknowledgements
Chapter 1 The Dream
Chapter 2 Opening Day
Chapter 3 Settling Down
Chapter 4 Cutting of Tail
Chapter 5 Visiting Day
Chapter 6 Disciples of Discipline
Chapter 7 Redemption for the Failed Athlete
Chapter 8 Linguistic Calisthenics
Chapter 9 The Art of Name-Calling
Chapter 10 Blood Will Always Be Thicker
Chapter 11 Inspection Day
Chapter 12 A Crisis Like No Other
Chapter 13 The Oliver Twist of German Rice
Chapter 14 Mama Jovita
Chapter 15 Heroics of a Class Prefect
Chapter 16 Shake What Your Mama Gave You!
Chapter 17 In the Direction of Love
Chapter 18 The Stolen School Fee
Chapter 19 Battle for Academic Ascendancy
Chapter 20 Newscaster of the Year
Chapter 21 Homegoing
Chapter 22 Extension
Chapter 23 The Gathering
Chapter 24 … And Tomorrow
About the Author