The following version of this book was used to create the guide: Alexander, Kwame. The Door of No Return. Little, Brown and Company, 2022.

The Door of No Return tells the story of Kofi Offin. He is an Asante boy from Upper Kwanta in West Africa. He knows that he is about to be initiated as a man by the men from the Upper, but he does not know what this means. The boys do not know when it will happen or what it will entail, but Kofi’s brother, Kwasi, tells him that it will make him wish that he could die. He ensures him, however, that he will survive it. The initiation serves to prepare the boys to be protectors of the weak.

Kofi is taught by Mr. Phillip who is an Asante man who was educated by the British and wants to teach his students both British history and the English language. Kofi and Mr. Phillip have a contentious relationship as Kofi both is attracted to the English culture and offended by Mr. Phillip’s seeming insistence on teaching what is British rather than African. Throughout Kofi’s boyhood, he has a relationship defined by animosity with his cousin, Kofi Katari.

Kofi has a friend named Ama, who he has known since they were quite small. Ama works in service to her uncle because both of her parents died. Kofi has romantic feelings for Ama, and he at times follows her. He thinks of her frequently and has planned in his head how he would express his feelings to her although he never does this. She is affectionate towards him as well. Some of the tension between Kofi and his cousin is over Ama, as Kofi Katari wants Ama for his own.

Kofi learns a lot about the world through his grandfather, Nana Mosi. Nana Mosi is a storyteller. This is considered to be quite important in the Asante culture, and Kofi hopes to one day be a storyteller. Nana Mosi shares the stories of the village with Kofi. He is careful, however, to not give the boy more information than he can handle because he does not want to destroy Kofi’s innocence. Because of this, when Kofi is captured, he does not know whether he is undergoing part of the initiation or if there is something more sinister going on.

The novel takes a turn when Kwasi has to wrestle a prince from Lower Kwanta and accidentally kills him. The Council of Elders votes that this death was an accident, and they only fine the people of the Upper for the death. Eventually both Kwasi and Kofi are captured, and Kwasi is killed in retribution by the people of the Lower. Kofi is held captive and befriends a boy named Owu and is comforted by an older woman named Afua. Owu dies while they are in captivity.

Kofi and the rest of the captives are sold to the white people who Mr. Phillip always called the wonderfuls. While aboard the ship, Afua is raped, and when she is about to be raped again, she is able to get away from her captor and jump into the ocean, ending her life. Beforehand, however, she curses the captors. A storm hits, and the boat is destroyed. Kofi, always an extraordinarily strong swimmer, decides to try to follow a bird to swim to safety. He hears his cousin calling for help and realizes that his cousin had been held in the ship the whole time as well, but Kofi did not know it. Despite their previous animosity, the two refer to each other affectionately and Kofi urges his cousin to be brave and to try to swim to safety along with him. The novel ends as they attempt this swim.