num_pages: 345
description: After a terrible murder in the village of Ilmorog, four suspects are placed in Munira the headmaster; Abdullah the storekeeper; Karega the assistant teacher and 'barmaid' Wanja. The lives of these four characters are inextricably linked with the lives of the three murder victims, the fortunes of Ilmorog and with the fate of Kenya itself. Published to great controversy in 1977, "Petals of Blood" is as much a whodunnit as a political novel and satire. Ngugi unfolds a human landscape that is both beautiful and horrifying, as tribalism and village life are manipulated in the name of progress by the cynical bureaucrats who came to power as heroes of liberation.
language: English
title: Petals of Blood
titlecomplete: Petals of Blood
characters: Wanja, Munirah, Abdullah, Karega
genres: Literature, Fiction, Mystery, Historical Fiction, 20th Century, Kenya, Novels, Africa, African Literature, Classics
ratings_count: 2252
publisher: Penguin Books