Call Me Legachi: A Raw, Tender Journey of Love, Survival, and Second Chances
Adesuwa O'Man Nwokedi's novel, Call Me Legachi, presents a deeply emotional Nigerian romance set against the backdrop of London's diaspora life. This story transcends typical love narratives, delving into themes of survival, immigration uncertainty, and the pursuit of second chances with remarkable authenticity.
The Scholarship Dream and Quiet Pressures
Legachi's journey begins with winning the Skyline scholarship to Middlesex University, a moment that should represent triumph but instead layers her with immense pressure. Unlike other scholars enjoying campus accommodation, she commutes over an hour daily while staying with her boyfriend Mezie, a decision that subtly shifts their relationship dynamics from the outset.
Despite her brilliance in Global Supply Chain Management studies, Legachi constantly calculates visa restrictions, work limits, and survival strategies in a foreign system. The novel realistically portrays studying abroad without glamorization, showing the anxiety, awkwardness, and silent envy that accompany navigating an environment not designed for softness.
Survival Mode in a Foreign City
When Legachi accepts a nanny position arranged by a shady agent taking 40% of her first salary, it represents not desperation but survival strategy. Her first day in Roman's house is marked by anxiety, bulky sweaters, and intimidation by a spotless white kitchen. Roman, a doctor and single father, observes her with cautious amusement as their connection builds gradually through glances and small acts of concern.
The novel excels in portraying how tenderness develops without dramatic declarations, focusing instead on quiet moments like trays of food left by the bedside after physical injury.
Complex Relationships and Emotional Survival
Before Roman enters her life, Legachi endures a relationship with Mezie that many women recognize but rarely admit to maintaining. He represents dismissiveness and self-serving behavior that forces Legachi to shrink herself, cooking for him and his friends in a kitchen with expired condiments just to prove her worth as a partner.
Roman emerges as a complicated, guarded human rather than a fantasy hero. As a doctor dealing with a toxic ex and custody conflicts, he brings significant baggage to their relationship. Their romance becomes believable precisely because it involves two people healing while still bleeding, making mistakes, and delaying truths.
Imposter Syndrome in Love and Emotional Rupture
Legachi experiences profound imposter syndrome when Roman shows genuine affection, wondering how someone like him could choose someone like her. This thread of self-doubt runs beneath their romance, making her eventual feeling of being seen revolutionary for a character who spent chapters shrinking herself.
Just as comfort settles in, the novel introduces rupture through miscommunication, fear, timing, and ego. Legachi chooses distance, returning to Lagos to finish her dissertation remotely as self-preservation, while Roman attempts to erase her presence from his home, though she lingers particularly in his daughter Luna's persistent questions.
Survival Beyond Financial Means
One of the novel's strongest themes reveals that survival extends beyond visas and rent to encompass dignity and emotional resilience. Legachi survives heartbreak, humiliation, being underestimated, and her own insecurity, while Roman navigates custody battles and emotional regret.
Both characters must confront who they are without each other before reconsidering who they might become together. When the satisfying "happy beginning" arrives, it feels thoroughly earned rather than conveniently delivered.
The Essence of Second Chances
Call Me Legachi masterfully explores what happens after significant life moments: the scholarship email, airport goodbye, first kiss, and breakup. It follows a girl who didn't see herself as extraordinary learning she doesn't need to be, and a man who thought he had control discovering that love requires vulnerability.
The novel's power lies in its portrayal of second chances arriving not wrapped in perfection but in genuine growth. Sometimes happy endings aren't about fireworks but about finally feeling chosen and finding dignity in one's journey.
