“Purple Hibiscus” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Nigeria)

Favourite Quote

Some months ago, he wrote that he did not want me to seek the whys, because there are some things that happen for which we can formulate no whys, for which whys simply do not exist and, perhaps, are not necessary.

Synopsis

Fifteen year-old Kambili lives in fear of her father, a charismatic yet violent Catholic patriarch who, although generous and well respected in the community, is repressive and fanatically religious at home. Escape and discovery of a new, liberated way of life come when Nigeria is shaken by a military coup, forcing Kambili and her brother to live at their aunt’s home, a noisy place full of laughter. The visit will lift the silence from her world and, in time, unlock a terrible, bruising secret at the heart of her family life. An extraordinary debut, “Purple Hibiscus” is a novel about the blurred lines between the old gods and the new, childhood and adulthood, love and hatred – the grey spaces in which truths are revealed and true living is begun… Read more

Nicola’s Book Club reading list

Season 1 (Feb – Jun 2005)
“Oracle Night” by Paul Auster (U.S.)
“Purple Hibiscus” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Nigeria)
“Snow” by Orhan” Pamuk (Turkey)
“Empress Orchid” by Anchee Min (China) *
“The Way to Paradise” by Mario Vargas Llosa (Peru)

* The book club favourite
In italics, Nicola’s Coup de Cœur