Jamiu Akolade Adeyemi’s novel captures for us the traumatic childhood of a Yoruba boy in those days when brutal men were sporadically at war. As the only son of an Oba he lost the pride after a war outbroke in Budoagun, leading to the turning of his native land into ashes. Two victims among others, Arike and the boy, Fadebih escaped however, only to see the whole life becoming a prison yard. Destiny out of diligence is Fadebih and Arike’s story of a brave but bittersweet life journey spanning two settlements and three turbulent decades. It is the story of two people trying to find themselves and their destinies- a story of love and courage, motherhood and diligence, ruination and idealism, and a people’s attempt to shield themselves in a world filled up with the tongs of anomie, tyranny, chaos and corruption.