The Year of Return

By Ivana Akotowaa Ofori

A Ghanaian journalist based in the US returns to Ghana with a few friends for the holidays in December 2019. That month is meant to be the climax of the Ghanaian government’s year-long 'Year of Return' initiative, commemorating 400 years since the first slaves from West Africa arrived in Virginia.

'The Year of Return' takes on a whole new meaning when large numbers of ghosts—formerly enslaved Africans who drowned during the Middle Passage—emerge from the Atlantic Ocean, leading to months of global pandemonium, and a chilling conclusion.