The book tells the story of Àjàyí Crowther, a young boy captured and sold into slavery in 1821, who later became a prominent figure in the Anglican Church.

Yorùbá Boy Running was Biyi Bándélé's final work, completed just days before his death in August 2022, and was published posthumously in 2024.

[6] Estelle Shirbon wrote in a review for the Times Literary Supplement that the book was written with "exquisite precision and originality".

[2] In a review for The Guardian, Helon Habila praised the book's vivid imagery and its "wit and dramatic timing", comparing it to works by Wole Soyinka.

[7] Alida Becker wrote in the New York Times that the book had the "aura of ancestral myth" and that the "malign influence" of the slave trade was at the heart of the novel.