num_pages: 307
description: Fifteen-year-old Kambili and her older brother Jaja lead a privileged life in Enugu, Nigeria. They live in a beautiful house, with a caring family, and attend an exclusive missionary school. They're completely shielded from the troubles of the world. Yet, as Kambili reveals in her tender-voiced account, things are less perfect than they appear. Although her Papa is generous and well respected, he is fanatically religious and tyrannical at home—a home that is silent and suffocating.As the country begins to fall apart under a military coup, Kambili and Jaja are sent to their aunt, a university professor outside the city, where they discover a life beyond the confines of their father’s authority. Books cram the shelves, curry and nutmeg permeate the air, and their cousins’ laughter rings throughout the house. When they return home, tensions within the family escalate, and Kambili must find the strength to keep her loved ones together.Purple Hibiscus is an exquisite novel about the emotional turmoil of adolescence, the powerful bonds of family, and the bright promise of freedom.
language: English
title: Purple Hibiscus
titlecomplete: Purple Hibiscus
characters: Eugene, Beatrice..., Jaja, Kambili
genres: Fiction, African Literature, School, Young Adult, Novels, Contemporary, Nigeria, Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction, Africa
ratings_count: 113298
places: Nigeria
awards: awardedAt: 1072944000000
name: Booker Prize
category: Longlist, awardedAt: 1072944000000
name: Orange Prize
category: Fiction Shortlist, awardedAt: 1072944000000
name: John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, awardedAt: 1072944000000
name: Hurston/Wright Legacy Award
category: Debut Fiction, awardedAt: 1104566400000
name: Commonwealth Writers' Prize
category: Best First Book Overall
publisher: Fourth Estate:  A Division of HarperCollins Publishers