Summary

The narrator offers a comparison of electricity in Saeed’s and Nadia’s home city, Mykonos, and now London. In the home city, there was no electricity for anyone. In Mykonos, there was electricity everywhere that the wires ran. But in London, there is electricity only in selective parts of the city, so that some parts are “as bright as ever” (146) and others darker than ever. From so-called “dark London,” Saeed and Nadia wonder about what life is like in “light London” (146).

The house is overrun with Nigerians, and gains a reputation as a Nigerian house. While Saeed keeps to himself, Nadia begins attending the elders’ council and attains a “special status” (149) among the younger Nigerians too. As the only male from his country, Saeed feels isolated and uptight. One day, Saeed has a confrontation with a woman in a leather jacket and a...