Purple Hibiscus

A powerful novel about the emotional turmoil of adolescence, strong family bonds and the radiant promise of freedom.

Fifteen-year-old Kambili and her older brother, Jaja, live a privileged life in Enugu, Nigeria. However, not everything is as idyllic as it seems. While their father is revered by the community as a generous man, he is also a religious fanatic and a despot at home.

After a military coup, the siblings go to stay with their aunt, where they get their first taste of life beyond the shadow of their father's authority. Aunt Ifeoma is a university lecturer; her home has shelves full of books, smells of nutmeg and curry, and is filled with the sound of children's laughter.

But when Kambili and Jaja return to their parents, the tense relationships escalate, leading to a turn of events that will change everyone's lives. In the aftermath, Kambili must use all her strength to try and piece her broken family back together.

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A sensitive and touching story of a child exposed too early to religious intolerance and the darker side of Nigeria.
— J. M. Coetzee, Nobel Prize laureate in Literature

The job of a writer is to create a world so real and exciting that you fall into it like Alice into Wonderland. Chimamanda Adichie has done just that—among the frangipani and bougainvillea of her native land, she has set a wonderful story of a family demoralised and humiliated by a father's cruelty.

— The Minneapolis Star Tribune