After nearly a decade, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is back with a powerful new novel Dream Count and it’s already turning heads.

The newly released book has earned a spot on the 2025 Women’s Prize for Fiction longlist, making it her fourth recognition by the prestigious award.

And no surprise, it’s worth every bit of the hype.

Dream Count: A Story Years in the Making

Described as “a publishing event 10 years in the making,” Dream Count is Adichie’s first novel since 2013’s Americanah, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award.

The book explores the lives of four women navigating identity, womanhood, and immigration between Nigeria and the United States.

Work challenges
Relationship woes
COVID-19 fears
Women’s health struggles
Social expectations

As The Guardian put it;

“Practically four novels for the price of one.”

What Inspired Dream Count?

In a BBC interview, Adichie opened up about the emotional journey behind the book.

She shared how writer’s block hit hard after the birth of her daughter in 2016. Then in 2021, she lost her mother, less than a year after her father’s passing.

In her words;

“I felt like my mother opened the door for me to get back into this magical place where fiction happens.”

The novel, she later realized, is full of mother-daughter relationships, a theme that found her, not the other way around.

A Legacy of Longlists & Literary Impact

This isn’t Adichie’s first rodeo with the Women’s Prize. In fact, every one of her novels has made the longlist:

In 2020, Half of a Yellow Sun also won the “Winner of Winners” award during the prize’s 25th anniversary celebration.

Fierce Competition, Powerful Stories

Adichie is in good company.

The 2025 Women’s Prize longlist includes 16 novels, with more than half by debut authors.

Also on the list is Laila Lalami, the Moroccan-American author of The Moor’s Account, with her speculative new novel, The Dream Hotel.

Lalami, a Pulitzer finalist, is no stranger to this stage. Her novel Secret Son also made the 2010 longlist.

What’s The Prize?

The winner will take home:

£30,000 prize money
A bespoke bronze statue called “Bessie”, created by artist Grizel Niven

Winners will be announced later in the year and fans of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s novels are already rooting for Dream Count to take the crown.

A Comeback Worth the Wait

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – NOVEMBER 19: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie attends the annual Make Equality Reality Gala hosted by Equality Now on November 19, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for Equality Now)

In a world of hype, Dream Count lives up to its name.

It’s not just a return to fiction for Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, it’s a return to form, to truth, to storytelling that reflects real women, real pain, and real hope.

Whether you’ve read her before or are just discovering her brilliance, this book is a must-add to your shelf.

Chimamanda Adichie’s Latest Novel Makes 2025 Women’s Prize Longlist