Disciples of Fortune

By: Janvier Chouteu-Chando, Janvier Tchouteu, Janvier Tisi

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

A bright-eyed explorer and soldier in the German colonial army in Kamerun adopts Josef Nana Njike and takes him to Germany. While in Germany, Josef studies Agronomy, flirts with leftist political ideologies, and is humbled by the realities of his new world and the expectations of the world he left behind in Africa. He returns to German Kamerun after failing to marry his first love, and without their son, Hans. He sets about pursuing his dream as his benefactor's disciple with a mission.


Josef is a man with unusual strengths and makes unprecedented sacrifices while building his business empire and shaping the political future of his people in the new geopolitical reality called French Cameroun that emerged from German Kamerun after the defeat of Germany in World War One. He confronts the realities of French colonial rule without the protection of his benefactor, grapples with its bizarre challenges, and loses the heir to his legacy without losing his vision for his people.


Josef is elated when Hans escapes Nazi Germany and joins him and his new family in French Cameroun. The African sage then guides his first son in giving birth to the third generation of the Njike family in a land with a mysterious way of transforming heroes into victims and villains into masters. Josef joins his ancestors as an unprecedented legend, but the years after his death prove that he underestimated the viciousness of the forces that were out to destroy his family and thwart the collective dream of his people.


The zest for life, the search for its true meaning, and the unequivocal love for family weave the characters into this spellbinder.