SYNOPSIS
Set in Nigeria in the late 1960s, The Road to the Country is the epic story of a shy, bookish student haunted by long-held guilt who must go to war to free himself. When his younger brother disappears as the country explodes in civil war, Kunle must set out on an impossible rescue mission. Kunle’s search for his brother becomes a journey of atonement that will see him conscripted into the breakaway Biafran army and forced to fight a war he hardly understands, all while navigating the prophecies of a local Seer, he who marks Kunle as an abami eda—one who will die and return to life.
The story of a young man seeking redemption in a country on fire, Chigozie Obioma’s novel is an odyssey of brotherhood, love, and unimaginable courage set during one of the most devastating conflicts in the history of Africa. Intertwining myth and realism into a thrilling, inspired, and emotionally powerful novel, The Road to the Country is the masterpiece of Chigozie Obioma, a writer Salman Rushdie calls “a major voice” in literature.
Read Obioma’s essay, “In danger of Researching a War Story” on the author’s dangerous encounter researching the novel.
The Road to the Country will be published in the UK (May 30, 2024) and in the US (June 04, 2024). For a chance to get an early edition, please consider pre-ordering here
“The story of a war can only be fully and truly told by both the living and the dead”
-Igbo Proverb
EXCERPTS & INterview:
REVIEWS
Chigozie Obioma’s first two novels, The Fishermen (2015) and An Orchestra of Minorities (2019), both shortlisted for the Booker Prize, established him as a master of metaphor. In Obioma’s third novel, The Road to the Country, that faculty is again on display…A powerful story of brotherhood, friendship and extraordinary courage during the Biafran conflict.”—Tobias Grey, Financial Times.
“The novel captures Nigeria’s fault lines in both language (with a mix of English, Yoruba and Igbo) and form. It flits between the real and the supernatural. The novel is narrated in part by a Yoruba seer who predicted the conflict and features an interlude with testimonies of people who died in battle, evoking an Igbo proverb: “The story of a war can only be fully and truly told by both the living and the dead.”—The Economist.
“Obioma’s The Road to the Country is a powerful testimony to the importance of stories: the stories that came before us, the stories we create for our own selves, and the stories left behind.” —Marcie McCauley, ChicagoReviewofBooks
“With heartbreaking realism, Obioma captures the dizzying atmosphere of despair, determination, and chaos surrounding the Biafran soldiers. This live-wire war story is not to be missed.”— Publishers Weekly (Starred review)
“With confident empathy, Obioma remarkably imbues breathtaking beauty into the (quotidian) horrors of war. Beyond geographical and historical specificities here, the world’s harrowing, ongoing conflagrations underscore the timeless urgency of Obioma’s latest triumph.”—Booklist (starred review)
“Obioma has captured the essential elements of the war novel—the near-death experience, the tragic losses, the flickering moments of generosity and grace—but he inhabits them with a rare command, empathy, and intensity of feeling. . . . A top-tier war novel, inventive and cleareyed about the consequences of violence.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“A spectacular blend of realism and mysticism, The Road to the Country is Chigozie Obioma at his finest. He is a novelist in a league of his own.”—Imbolo Mbue, New York Times bestselling author of Behold the Dreamers