Half of a Yellow Sun

WINNER OF THE BAILEYS PRIZE BEST OF THE BEST

Winner of the Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction 2007, this is a heartbreaking, exquisitely written literary masterpiece
This novel from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is set in Nigeria during the 1960s, at the time of a vicious civil war in which a million people died and thousands were massacred in cold blood. It has now been turned into a major film starring Thandie Newton and Chiwetel Ejiofor, due for release in 2014.

Set in Nigeria during the 1960s, ‘Half of a Yellow Sun’ is an unforgettable read and a true modern classic. Its three central characters are swept up in the violence of the turbulent years of civil war. Ugwu is one of them, a young boy from a poor village who is employed at a university lecturer's house. Another is a middle-class woman, Olanna, who has abandoned a life of privilege to live with her new lover, the revolutionary professor. And the third is Richard, a white man and a writer, who falls in love with Olanna's remote and enigmatic twin sister.

As their lives intersect, all three are forced to question their responses to the unfolding political events. ‘Half of a Yellow Sun’ is the story of a terrible war, but also an extraordinary story about Africa in a wider sense: about moral responsibility, the end of colonialism, ethnic allegiances, class and race – and about how love can move in to complicate all of these things.

Winner of Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction: Best of the Best 2015
Winner of Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction 2007

“'Heartbreaking, funny, exquisitely written and, without doubt, a literary masterpiece and a classic.' Daily Mail 'Stunning. This novel is an immense achievement.' Observer 'Here is a new writer endowed with the gift of ancient storytellers.' Chinua Achebe 'I look with awe and envy at this young woman from Africa who is recording the history of her country. She is fortunate and we, her readers, are even luckier.' Edmund White 'A magnificent novel.' Independent 'Absolutely awesome. One of the best books I've ever read.' Judy Finnigan 'Vividly written, thrumming with life…a remarkable novel. In its compassionate intelligence as in its capacity for intimate portraiture, this novel is a worthy successor to such twentieth-century classics as Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart and V. S. Naipaul's A Bend in the River.' Joyce Carol Oates 'I wasted the last fifty pages, reading them far too greedily and fast, because I couldn't bear to let go…It is a magnificent second novel and can't fail to find the readership it deserves and demands.' Margaret Forster '[Deserves] a place alongside such works as Pat Barker's Regeneration trilogy and Helen Dunmore's depiction of the Leningrad blockade, The Siege.' Guardian 'Adichie uses language with relish. She infuses her English with a robust poetry.' Helen Dunmore, The Times”

'Vividly written, thrumming with life … a remarkable novel. In its compassionate intelligence as in its capacity for intimate portraiture, this novel is a worthy successor to such twentieth-century classics as Chinua Achebe's “Things Fall Apart” and V. S. Naipaul's “A Bend in the River”.' Joyce Carol Oates

'Here is a new writer endowed with the gift of ancient storytellers.’ Chinua Achebe

'I look with awe and envy at this young woman from Africa who is recording the history of her country. She is fortunate – and we, her readers, are even luckier.' Edmund White

'Heartbreaking, funny, exquisitely written and, without doubt, a literary masterpiece and a classic.' Daily Mail

'Stunning. This novel is an immense achievement.' Observer

‘A magnificent novel.’ Independent

‘The first great African novel of the new century.' Guardian

'Absolutely awesome. One of the best books I've ever read.' Judy Finnigan

'I wasted the last fifty pages, reading them far too greedily and fast, because I couldn't bear to let go … It is a magnificent second novel – and can't fail to find the readership it deserves and demands.' Margaret Forster

'[Deserves] a place alongside such works as Pat Barker's “Regeneration” trilogy and Helen Dunmore's depiction of the Leningrad blockade, “The Siege”.' Guardian

‘Adichie uses language with relish. She infuses her English with a robust poetry.’ Helen Dunmore, The Times

‘Adichie succeeds in tackling the horrors of this war, imbuing her portrayal of three disparate characters … with warmth, wisdom and an acute insight into human nature.’ Daily Telegraph

‘This powerful, delicate, intimate novel focuses on an individual's thoughts and emotions, the subtleties of human relationships and the psychological legacies of colonialism.’ Observer

'A powerful account of the Biafran War, horrific and tender in equal measure.' Richard Eyre, Sunday Telegraph

'A fresh examination of the ravages of war … a welcome addition to the corpus of African letters.' TLS

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is the author of Purple Hibiscus, which was longlisted for the Booker Prize, Half of a Yellow Sun, which won the Orange Prize for Fiction; and acclaimed story collection The Thing Around Your Neck. Americanah, was published around the world in 2013, received numerous awards and was named one of New York Times Ten Books of the Year. A recipient of a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, she divides her time between the United States and Nigeria.

Winner of the Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction 2007, this is a heartbreaking, exquisitely written literary masterpiece. Now a major film starring Thandie Newton and Chiwetel Ejiofor, due for release in 2014. In 1960s Nigeria, Ugwu, a boy from a poor village, goes to work for Odenigbo, a radical university professor. Soon they are joined by Olanna, a young woman who has abandoned a life of privilege to live with her charismatic lover. Into their world comes Richard, an English writer, who has fallen for Olanna's sharp-tongued sister Kainene. But when the shocking horror of civil war engulfs the nation, their loves and loyalties are severely tested, while their lives pull apart and collide once again in ways none of them could have imagined...

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