Kwasi and his fellow Ashanti prince Kwame Poku are pestered at their school in Delft and attract a measure of attention from the royal court, which views the boys as curiosities and, while favoring them for the while, fails to offer them continued support.

Almost three years are spent waiting in Fort Elmina for permission to return to his people while he slowly appears to sink into delusion, then commits suicide.

During his research, Japin came across the story of Badu Bonsu II, a Ghanaian prince who rebelled against the Dutch overlords in 1837 and was executed and decapitated, after which his head was shipped to the Netherlands.

[5][6] In March 2009, government officials announced that it would be returned to its homeland for proper burial,[7][8] a promise fulfilled on 23 July 2009, after a ceremony held in The Hague.

[16] In November 2007, an opera based on the novel premiered in Rotterdam, with an English libretto by Japin and music by the British composer Jonathan Dove.