Dream Count

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes references to sexual violence, rape, and the death of a loved one.

Chiamaka—also referred to as Chia throughout the source text and guide—is one of the novel’s primary characters. She is also one of the novel’s first-person narrators. Parts 1 and 5, both titled “Chiamaka,” are written from Chia’s first-person perspective and trace episodes from her character’s storyline. Chia has a strong narrative voice, and her first-person perspective conveys her self-possession and deep desire to make sense of her own interiority. Adichie has written her portions of Dream Count from the first person to convey Chia’s work to claim her own story, voice, and viewpoints.

In the narrative present, Chia is living in Maryland in a house that her father bought for her, struggling to orient to the isolating circumstances brought on by the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown. While Chia moved to the United States from Nigeria years prior, she feels alone and detached. As a travel writer, she’s accustomed to moving from place to place, but COVID has robbed her of these opportunities. She keeps up with her parents and brothers (all still living in Nigeria) via Zoom, and also has regular calls with her best friends Zikora and Omelogor (who’s also her cousin), and with her childhood housekeeper and family friend Kadiatou and her daughter Binta.