‘And you want somewhere to live?’

Madeleine said: ‘Yes.’

‘I hope you can take it straight. You’re going to have to live in a poor quarter. A very poor quarter. You can’t even afford one of the little places at Sbute Metta or Yaba. For the time being it’s going to be Ikko itself.’

‘Ikko?’

‘That’s the vernacular for the island. Lagos: the city. The place I’m going to direct you to is going to cost three pounds a week – it was thirty bob a month not so long ago – and when you first look at it, you aren’t going to believe anyone could live in it. But you’re going to live in it because you have no choice. You’ll think you’d rather live out in the open, but you can’t do that because the police won’t let you.’

‘We’ve learned that much already,’ Andrew said.

‘That’s good. You’re better off knowing where you stand. This is a slum you’re going to live in; Johannesburg has the only place in Africa that comes near it. The shack that’s offered for rent is ramshackle and dirty and it stinks. There’ll be open drains nearby. I’m told it has one advantage over Johannesburg: no flies. The flies can’t take it.’