Nigeria and England

Helen said, "Here's a link to my review of Little Bee, which would fit under England and Nigeria."

Little Bee by Chris Cleave is "a haunting novel about the tenuous friendship that blooms between two disparate strangers—one an illegal Nigerian refugee, the other a recent widow from suburban London."  The back cover says:

"This is the story of two women.  Their lives collide one fateful day, and one of them has to make a terrible choice, the kind of choice we hope you never have to face.  Two years later, they meet again -- the story starts there.  Once you have read it, you'll want to tell your frienmds about it.  When you do, please don't tell them what happens.  The magic is in how the story unfolds."

Bonnie says, "Much of the book takes place in England, but some really important events take place in Nigeria.  I also recommend this book for both countries."

Nigeria

Sally906 said, "I have posted this link on my personal 'Around the World in 80 books challenge.' You have so many great suggestions :) Can I suggest: Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Nigeria). Also Purple Hibiscus by the same author.

Fifteen-year-old Kambili's world is circumscribed by the high walls and frangipani trees of her family compound. Her wealthy Catholic father, under whose shadow Kambili lives, while generous and politically active in the community, is repressive and fanatically religious at home. When Nigeria begins to fall apart under a military coup, Kambili's father sends her and her brother away to stay with their aunt, a University professor, whose house is noisy and full of laughter. There, Kambili and her brother discover a life and love beyond the confines of their father's authority. The visit will lift the silence from their world and, in time, give rise to devotion and defiance that reveal themselves in profound and unexpected ways.

Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a book about the promise of freedom and about the blurred lines between childhood and adulthood, between love and hatred, between the old gods and the new. Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has already been suggested. I'm glad to know you like it, too.

Nigeria

Have you ever heard of Biafra? It was a country, though it didn't last long. Biafra was formerly part of Nigeria, and now it is again. That's why I label this post Nigeria. Nigeria itself hasn't been around very long, having gained its independence in 1960. Chimamanda Adichie's novel Half of a Yellow Sun tells the story of Biafra, a tiny country whose flag showed half of a yellow sun, as you can see on the cover of the hardback edition. This book, which is extremely well written, is not an easy book to read ... because of the horrors of genocide. I highly recommend this book.

From the publisher:

Adichie weaves together the lives of five characters caught up in the extraordinary tumult of the decade. Fifteen-year-old Ugwu is houseboy to Odenigbo, a university professor who sends him to school, and in whose living room Ugwu hears voices full of revolutionary zeal. Odenigbo’s beautiful mistress, Olanna, a sociology teacher, is running away from her parents’ world of wealth and excess; Kainene, her urbane twin, is taking over their father’s business; and Kainene’s English lover, Richard, forms a bridge between their two worlds. As we follow these intertwined lives through a military coup, the Biafran secession and the subsequent war, Adichie brilliantly evokes the promise, and intimately, the devastating disappointments that marked this time and place.

Here's Jill's review of this book.