What if the most expensive lies are not the ones told to us by others, but the ones we
eventually begin to believe about ourselves?
Many of us grow up carrying ideas we rarely stop to question. That success must happen by
a certain age. That love, if it is real, should never hurt. That being single means you are
falling behind. That our worth is measured by our achievements, our relationships or how
closely our lives resemble everyone else’s.
These are the quiet stories that shape how we see ourselves. They influence our choices,
define our fears and often remain unnoticed until life forces us to confront them.
It is this idea that inspired The Lie I Bought, the debut poetry collection by Nigerian author
and communications professional Roseline Adidi.
The collection emerged through years of reflection while Roseline navigated personal
growth, career transitions and the experience of building a new chapter of her life away from
home. In the midst of change, writing became a space where she could process questions
about identity, belonging and the stories people carry about themselves.
A communications professional with a Master’s degree in Public Relations and Corporate
Communications from Kingston University London. Roseline has always been interested in
the power of storytelling to connect people and shape conversations. Poetry became her
most intimate expression of that instinct — an avenue to explore emotions and experiences
that are often difficult to articulate.
“Sometimes we live according to stories we never stopped to question,” she says. “This book
became my way of asking whether those stories were still serving us and what truths we are
ready to embrace instead.”
Rather than offering easy answers, the collection invites readers into honest conversations
about love, heartbreak, identity, healing and becoming. Through reflective poems, Roseline
explores the emotional weight of the beliefs people inherit, adopt and sometimes spend
years trying to unlearn.
According to her, The title came from a simple but uncomfortable question, “What if some of the things we’ve accepted as truth about ourselves and our lives were never true in the first place?
I wanted to explore those questions through poetry.”
While deeply personal, The Lie I Bought reflects conversations taking place across many communities, particularly among young Africans navigating identity in an increasingly connected world. From expectations around career success and marriage to questions of purpose, belonging and self-worth, the collection examines themes that extend beyond geography.
At a time when conversations around mental wellbeing, identity and self-discovery are becoming more common, The Lie I Bought offers readers an opportunity to pause and reflect on the stories they have carried, often without realising it.
For Roseline, poetry is less about providing solutions than creating space for honesty. “I didn’t write this book because I had all the answers. I wrote it because I kept asking questions. My hope is that somewhere in these pages, readers might recognise a part of themselves. That someone reads a page and thinks, ‘I have felt this too, but I never had the words for it.”
Beyond the publication of the book, Roseline is also creating conversations around its themes through a series of online monologues and plans to host a virtual event, Beyond the Pages: An Evening of Poetry & Conversation, where readers will have the opportunity to hear selected poems, discuss their meanings and engage with the author.
Ultimately, The Lie I Bought is not simply a collection of poems. It is an invitation to reflect, to question and perhaps to let go of beliefs that no longer serve us.
Because sometimes, the first step towards becoming who we are is unlearning who we thought we had to be.
The Lie I Bought is available through Amazon worldwide and via Selar for readers in Nigeria.
