“If you’ve ever wondered if love can conquer all, read [this] stunning coming-of-age debut.” — Marie Claire
A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice
Named a Best Book of the Year by
NPR * BuzzFeed * Bustle * Shelf Awareness * Publishers Lunch
“[This] love story has hypnotic power.”— The New Yorker
Ijeoma comes of age as her nation does. Born before independence, she is eleven when civil war breaks out in the young republic of Nigeria. Sent away to safety, she meets another displaced child and they, star-crossed, fall in love. They are from different ethnic communities. They are also both girls. But when their love is discovered, Ijeoma learns that she will have to hide this part of herself—and there is a cost to living inside a lie.
Inspired by Nigeria’s folktales and its war, Chinelo Okparanta shows us, in “graceful and precise” prose ( New York Times Book Review ), how the struggles and divisions of a nation are inscribed on the souls of its citizens. “Powerful and heartbreaking, Under the Udala Trees is a deeply moving commentary on identity, prejudice, and forbidden love” ( BuzzFeed ).
“An important and timely read, imbued with both political ferocity and mythic beauty.” — Bustle
“A real talent. [ Under the Udala Trees is] the kind of book that should have come with a cold compress kit. It’s sad and sensual and full of heat.” — John Freeman, Electric Literature
“Demands not just to be read, but felt.” — Edwidge Danticat

lgli/R:\!fiction\0day\eng\_uns\7D40EAC54942596428522DFDF1E5B2DC.epub

Happiness, like water stories

Chinelo Okparanta

Mariner Books/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Holt, Rinehart & Winston

HarperCollins

HMH Books

Granta

Place of publication not identified, 2015

United States, United States of America

1st Mariner Books ed, Boston, 2013

Massachusetts, 2015

Reprint, 2015

London, 2015

Boston, 2016

FR, 2015

lg_fict_id_2013143

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Inspired by Nigeria's folktales and its war, Under the Udala Trees is a deeply searching, powerful debut about the dangers of living and loving openly.
Ijeoma comes of age as her nation does; born before independence, she is eleven when civil war breaks out in the young republic of Nigeria. Sent away to safety, she meets another displaced child and they, star-crossed, fall in love. They are from different ethnic communities. They are also both girls.
When their love is discovered, Ijeoma learns that she will have to hide this part of herself. But there is a cost to living inside a lie.
As Edwidge Danticat has made personal the legacy of Haiti's political coming of age, Okparanta's Under the Udala Trees uses one woman's lifetime to examine the ways in which Nigerians continue to struggle toward selfhood. Even as their nation contends with and recovers from the effects of war and division, Nigerian lives are also wrecked and lost from taboo and prejudice. This story offers a glimmer of hope a future where a woman might just be able to shape her life around truth and love.

A Young Nigerian Girl, Displaced During Their Civil War, Begins A Powerful Love Affair With Another Refugee Girl From A Different Ethnic Community Until The Pair Are Discovered And Must Learn The Cost Of Living A Lie Amidst Taboos And Prejudices. Ijeoma, A Young Nigerian Girl Displaced During Their Civil War, Begins A Powerful Love Affair With Another Refugee Girl From A Different Ethnic Community. When The Pair Are Discovered, She Must Learn The Cost Of Living A Lie Amidst Taboos And Prejudices. Even As Her Nation Contends With And Recovers From The Effects Of War And Division, Ijeoma Seeks A Glimmer Of Hope For A Future Where A Woman Might Just Be Able To Shape Her Life Around Truth And Love. Chinelo Okparanta.

Ijeoma, a young Nigerian girl displaced during their civil war, begins a powerful love affair with another refugee girl from a different ethnic community. When the pair are discovered, they must learn the cost of living a lie amidst taboos and prejudices. Even as her nation contends with and recovers from the effects of war and division, Ijeoma seeks a glimmer of hope for a future where a woman might just be able to shape her life around truth and love.

2018-07-15