A woman survives a coup. She survives years behind bars for a crime she didn’t commit. She survives a political system built to keep her out. Then she takes the highest office in Nigeria.
On October 20, Arrow Gate Publishing releases The Impossible President by S.S. David, the novel’s first UK and international edition, more than twenty years after it first appeared in Nigeria.
A Story Fiction Got to First
Tinuke is the heroine of this political thriller. Her road to power runs through betrayal, injustice and danger at every turn, and her endurance drives the story rather than sitting in the background. She is the first woman to hold Nigeria’s highest office in the novel.
In reality, Nigeria marked sixty-six years of independence this October, and no woman has ever served as president or vice president. The Impossible President sits in that gap.
Early readers have felt its impact. Editor and writer Abbie Headon describes it as “a powerful and action-packed story of love, courage, and endurance.” Author and scriptwriter Sam Martin calls it “fierce, authentic, unforgettable.”
Rooted in Real History
The thriller is grounded in fact. It draws on Nigeria’s long fight against human trafficking and the work of WOTCLEF, whose advocacy helped create the country’s federal anti-trafficking agency in 2003. It is history built by women whose names rarely travel beyond the places they served.
For readers who like their thrillers fast, high-stakes and true to life, that foundation gives the plot its weight. Few political thrillers place a Black African woman at the centre of power. This one does, and it never treats her as a side character in someone else’s story.
Why It Belongs in Black History Month
This year’s UK Black History Month theme, Honouring Our Communities, asks whose work we value and whose stories we have overlooked. Arrow Gate Publishing has been asking a version of that question since 2013, when it was founded to give unrepresented authors a way into print. Its conviction is simple. A story worth telling deserves to be told in full, no matter who stands in its way.
The Impossible President took two decades to reach international readers. It arrives on October 20, while Black History Month is still under way.
Preorder Now
The Impossible President by S.S. David publishes October 20, 2026, in the UK and internationally through Arrow Gate Publishing. Preorder at the Arrow Gate Store, Waterstones, Amazon, or wherever books are sold.
