Adolescence is a time when social positioning takes on a certain weight, when exam grades and friend groups and popularity can begin to make a difference in a person's adult future. Chikodili Emelumadu's Dazzling paints a dramatic picture of this fraught period, specifically for girls in a society that undervalues them, through two teenagers coming of age in 1990s Nigeria: Ozoemena, who has inherited the ability to transform into a leopard from her deceased uncle Odiogo but has yet to make use of this gift, and Treasure, whose grief over her father's death leads her into a dangerous agreement with a spirit who appears to her in human form.

The main action flows around Ozoemena and her entry into a boarding school, where she deals with typical problems — bullies, academic pressure, the perils of not fitting in — along with unanswered questions about her destiny that are ...