num_pages: 448
description: With effortless grace, celebrated author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie illuminates a seminal moment in modern African history: Biafra's impassioned struggle to establish an independent republic in southeastern Nigeria during the late 1960s. We experience this tumultuous decade alongside five unforgettable characters: Ugwu, a thirteen-year-old houseboy who works for Odenigbo, a university professor full of revolutionary zeal; Olanna, the professor’s beautiful young mistress who has abandoned her life in Lagos for a dusty town and her lover’s charm; and Richard, a shy young Englishman infatuated with Olanna’s willful twin sister Kainene. Half of a Yellow Sun is a tremendously evocative novel of the promise, hope, and disappointment of the Biafran war.
language: English
title: Half of a Yellow Sun
titlecomplete: Half of a Yellow Sun
characters: Odenigbo, Olanna, Kainene, Ugwu, Richard
genres: Literary Fiction, Fiction, African Literature, Nigeria, Contemporary, Historical, War, Historical Fiction, Africa, Novels
ratings_count: 151881
places: Nigeria, Lagos, Kano, Umuahia, West Africa, Biafra, Abba, Imo, Africa, Nsukka, Port Harcourt, Orlu
awards: awardedAt: 1167638400000
name: Orange Prize
category: Fiction, awardedAt: 1136102400000
name: James Tait Black Memorial Prize
category: Fiction, awardedAt: 1167638400000
name: Anisfield-Wolf Book Award
category: Fiction, awardedAt: 1167638400000
name: PEN Open Book Award, awardedAt: 1136102400000
name: National Book Critics Circle Award
category: Fiction, awardedAt: 1167638400000
name: Hurston/Wright Legacy Award
category: Fiction
publisher: Harper Perennial