Arrows of Rain
Published on 1. December 2023
Book
Paperback/Softback
264 pages
978-1-0359-0080-0 (ISBN)
Description
Okey Ndibe's critically-acclaimed debut novel, Arrows of Rain is a vital exploration into the importance of speaking truth to power even when no one is willing to listen.
'A story that must be told never forgives silence.'
In the country of Madia, General Isa Palat Bello has declared himself Life-President of the Republic. According to him, ninety-nine point five percent of Madians voted for it.
On the day of his ascendency, a time meant for celebration, a young sex worker is found dead on a beach. The last man who spoke to her, the 'madman' Bukuru, is adamant he saw her being attacked by Madian soldiers. His claim quickly lands him in prison, forced to defend himself against the charge of the woman's murder.
Armed only with the truth, two men, Bukuru's psychiatrist and a young journalist, set upon the perilous scheme of releasing Bukuru's story to the world - a plan made even more dangerous by his implication of the President himself.
A brave and powerful work of fiction, Arrows of Rain continues to resonate as a cautionary tale against corruption and oppression. Okey Ndibe is one of the most important novelists writing today.
'Highly evocative.' Wole Soyinka
'The greatest villain in Okey Ndibe's Arrows of Rain is silence.' Vanity Fair
'A Kafkaesque, imaginative novel of great necessity and power.' Kirkus Reviews
'A story that must be told never forgives silence.'
In the country of Madia, General Isa Palat Bello has declared himself Life-President of the Republic. According to him, ninety-nine point five percent of Madians voted for it.
On the day of his ascendency, a time meant for celebration, a young sex worker is found dead on a beach. The last man who spoke to her, the 'madman' Bukuru, is adamant he saw her being attacked by Madian soldiers. His claim quickly lands him in prison, forced to defend himself against the charge of the woman's murder.
Armed only with the truth, two men, Bukuru's psychiatrist and a young journalist, set upon the perilous scheme of releasing Bukuru's story to the world - a plan made even more dangerous by his implication of the President himself.
A brave and powerful work of fiction, Arrows of Rain continues to resonate as a cautionary tale against corruption and oppression. Okey Ndibe is one of the most important novelists writing today.
'Highly evocative.' Wole Soyinka
'The greatest villain in Okey Ndibe's Arrows of Rain is silence.' Vanity Fair
'A Kafkaesque, imaginative novel of great necessity and power.' Kirkus Reviews
Reviews / Votes
Highly evocative. -- Wole Soyinka The greatest villain in Okey Ndibe's Arrows of Rain is silence. * Vanity Fair * A Kafkaesque, imaginative novel of great necessity and power. * Kirkus Reviews * Smart and often deftly written, a parable of power and the humanity it strips away . . . Arrows of Rain remains a novel of resistance-if not political resistance, exactly, then resistance at the level of the soul. -- David L. Ulin * Los Angeles Times * A gritty political thriller with real emotional depth which poses vital questions about our responsibility to bear witness; to be the custodian of 'stories which must be told.' * New Internationalist * An ambitious and brave first novel, Arrows of Rain could well jump-start the moral political mission of serious African literature, begun so well by Ousmane, Ngugi, and the immortal Achebe. -- Ekwueme Michael Thelwell 'Ndibe is a gifted writer and an adept storyteller, who clearly exults in the telling. * Essence Magazine * Alluring, crisp and lucid... [Ndibe] is a novelist who portrays his characters, whether poor or rich, weak or powerful, with great complexity. * Sahara Reporters *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Dimensions
Height: 198 mm
Width: 129 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-0359-0080-0 (9781035900800)
Copyright in bibliographic data is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or its licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Okey Ndibe is a novelist, professor, and journalist born in 1960 in Yola, Nigeria.
He earned MFA and PhD degrees from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and has taught at Bard College, Trinity College, the University of Lagos (as a Fulbright scholar), and Brown University.
Ndibe's award-winning journalism has appeared in the New York Times, the Guardian, and the Hartford Courant, where he served on the editorial board. He is also the author of the critically acclaimed novel Foreign Gods, Inc. (2014).
He currently lives in Connecticut with his wife, Sheri, and their three children. You can find out more at okeyndibe.com or you can follow Ndibe on Twitter at @OkeyNdibe
He earned MFA and PhD degrees from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and has taught at Bard College, Trinity College, the University of Lagos (as a Fulbright scholar), and Brown University.
Ndibe's award-winning journalism has appeared in the New York Times, the Guardian, and the Hartford Courant, where he served on the editorial board. He is also the author of the critically acclaimed novel Foreign Gods, Inc. (2014).
He currently lives in Connecticut with his wife, Sheri, and their three children. You can find out more at okeyndibe.com or you can follow Ndibe on Twitter at @OkeyNdibe