{"title":"Chinelo Okparanta","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"under-the-udala-trees","title":"Under The Udala Trees","description":"\u003cstrong\u003e“If you’ve ever wondered if love can conquer all, read [this] stunning coming-of-age debut.” — \u003cem\u003eMarie Claire\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e A \u003cem\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/em\u003e Editors’ Choice\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Named a Best Book of the Year by\u003cbr\u003e NPR * \u003cem\u003eBuzzFeed * Bustle * Shelf Awareness * Publishers Lunch\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “[This] love story has hypnotic power.”—\u003cem\u003eThe New Yorker\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e 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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Inspired by Nigeria’s folktales and its war, Chinelo Okparanta shows us, in “graceful and precise” prose (\u003cem\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/em\u003e), how the struggles and divisions of a nation are inscribed on the souls of its citizens. “Powerful and heartbreaking, \u003cem\u003eUnder the Udala Trees\u003c\/em\u003e is a deeply moving commentary on identity, prejudice, and forbidden love” (\u003cem\u003eBuzzFeed\u003c\/em\u003e).\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“An important and timely read, imbued with both political ferocity and mythic beauty.” \u003cem\u003e— \u003c\/em\u003e\u003cem\u003eBustle\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “A real talent. [\u003cem\u003eUnder the Udala Trees\u003c\/em\u003e 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, \u003cem\u003eElectric Literature\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “Demands not just to be read, but felt.” — Edwidge Danticat \u003c\/strong\u003e ","brand":"Chinelo Okparanta","offers":[{"title":"Trade Paperback","offer_id":53140349059363,"sku":"9780544811799","price":15.19,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0930\/2258\/5123\/files\/9780544811799.jpg?v=1741116877"},{"product_id":"happiness-like-water","title":"Happiness, Like Water","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA triumphant collection of stories centered on Nigerian women as they build lives out of love and longing, the struggle to stay and the mandate to leave, by an award-winning writer who “is a certainly a voice to watch, and clearly deserves a place on any bookshelf beside fellow Nigerian authors Achebe and Adichie\"\u003ci\u003e (Bustle\u003c\/i\u003e). \u003c\/b\u003eWhat does happiness look like for the women in this acclaimed debut collection? Here is a cast of characters, in their Nigerian homeland and abroad, who whose world is marked by lush landscapes, historical legend and lively folktales, and the search for identity at all costs. You’ll meet mothers who will go to the ends of the earth for their children and daughters who will love whomever they want—even if that means risking everything, even their own lives. Spanning generations, transcending social strata, and crossing the boundaries between duty and desire, the stories in this collection are rendered with “such strength and intimacy, such lucidity and composure, that in each and every case the truths of their lives detonate deep inside the reader’s heart, with the power and force of revelation\" (Paul Harding). \u003cb\u003e¶ “The work of a sure and gifted new writer.\"—Julie Otsuka\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Chinelo Okparanta","offers":[{"title":"Trade Paperback","offer_id":53156304224547,"sku":"9780544003453","price":12.79,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0930\/2258\/5123\/files\/9780544003453.jpg?v=1741167641"},{"product_id":"harry-sylvester-bird-a-novel","title":"Harry Sylvester Bird: A Novel","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\"Disarmingly funny.\" - \u003cem\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFrom the award-winning author of \u003cem\u003eUnder the Udala Trees\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eHappiness, Like Water\u003c\/em\u003e comes a brilliant, provocative, up-to-the-minute satirical novel about a young white man’s education and miseducation in contemporary America.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHarry Sylvester Bird grows up in Edward, Pennsylvania, with his parents, Wayne and Chevy, whom he greatly dislikes. They’re racist, xenophobic, financially incompetent, and they have quite a few secrets of their own. To Harry, they represent everything wrong with this country. And his small town isn’t any better. He witnesses racial profiling, graffitied swastikas, and White Power signs on his walk home from school. He can’t wait until he’s old enough to leave. When he finally is, he moves straight to New York City, where he feels he can finally live out his true inner self.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn the city, he meets and falls in love with Maryam, a young Nigerian woman. 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