A Witness to the Bloom

by E.K. Mercer

A Witness to the Bloom is the first book in The Long Season, a work of fiction set in Lagos during a worsening atmospheric crisis known as the Bloom. The story follows Doctor Oche, a respiratory specialist at Lagos University Teaching Hospital, as she confronts declining oxygen levels, changing medical reports, and the growing gap between official reassurance and what her instruments reveal. As she moves between the hospital, a sensor station, and her home, Oche is drawn into questions about public safety, unequal exposure, and what happens when measurements no longer match lived reality.

The novel blends medical, environmental, and domestic detail to trace a city under pressure, with particular attention to family, professional duty, and the limits of data in a shifting world. Readers drawn to near-future fiction, climate-centered stories, and character-driven narratives will find a grounded, atmospheric opening to the series.