The Echo Chamber


The Echo Chamber is the debut novel of Scottish author Luke Williams, published in 2011. The Saltire Society awarded it the Scottish First Book of the Year prize that year. As revealed in the books acknowledgements, two of the chapters, extracts from the diary of Damaris a young woman and Evie's first lover were written by a friend, Natasha Soobramanien.

Plot introduction

The novel concerns Evie Steppman, who aged 54 and living in Gullane in Scotland tells of her life growing up in 1940s Lagos at the end of British rule in Nigeria, and more specifically of her auditory abilities as she maps the world around her through her amazing sense of hearing, beginning in the womb... with things happening

Inspiration

In an interview with the Scottish Book Trust, Williams reveals that his interest in Nigeria started with authors such as Amos Tutuola, Cyprian Ekwensi, Buchi Emecheta, Ben Okri and Ken Saro-Wiwa. Whilst studying History at the University of Edinburgh he became fascinated by the end of the Colonial period in West Africa. At St Andrews University he studied Imperial history and was shocked when he realised how little he was taught about the violence underpinning colonialism, for example the Benin Massacre and it was this need to reveal some of this truth which provoked him to write the novel.

Reception