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A Novel
by Uchenna Awoke
An urgent and unforgettable novel that follows a young man's coming of age in rural Nigeria as he bears witness to violence, upheaval, and hope in a rapidly changing society from the acclaimed author of The Liquid Eye of a Moon.
Ekwe, a boy driven often by hunger pangs, resents his twelve-year-old sister for not wanting to be married to a wealthy, adult man who offers the family access to food and, perhaps, safety. Ekwe's journey is incited by folk magic that is posited as fact after touching a forbidden leaf, ekwukwonju, that his mother and father warn him causes being caught in astral planes.
The novel does not shy away from tragedy and yet, the prose's lush lyricism and surprising comedy offers hope and grace in spite of its documentation of social upheaval. A love story takes shape, family and land disintegrates and reforms; characters are rendered fully dimensional while still being executors of violence and power. In two words, it is urgent and unforgettable.
In a rich, lyrical prose all his own, Uchenna Awoke maps his country's and his people's resistance while paying witness conflicts of land, ever shifting diaspora, and the violence of child marriage.
"Nigerian author Awoke offers a captivating and magic-fueled adventure set in contemporary Africa...Awoke weaves his immersive and lyrical tale with folklore and vivid scenes of real-world violence. This one hits hard." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Awoke masterfully captures the fantastical interconnectedness of the Nigerian zeitgeist in his latest novel ... This is a haunting, evocative exploration of growth and destiny that truly lingers long after the last page is finally turned. This vibrant tale is not to be missed." —Booklist
"In A Siege of Owls, Uchenna Awoke conjures a dreamy and wondrous Nigeria, a place where magic trees and giant raptors coexist with modern political violence. Awoke is a novelist whose abilities are vast—his prose is sublime, and the story he tells here is as urgent as it is moving." —Luis Jaramillo, author of The Witches of El Paso
This information about A Siege of Owls was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Uchenna Awoke is a writer from Nsukka, Nigeria and the author of The Liquid Eye of a Moon. His short stories have appeared in Transition, Elsewhere, Trestle Ties, Oyster River Pages, Evergreen Review, and other publications. He has received fellowships from MacDowell and the Vermont Studio Center. He is an Artist Protection Fund Fellow and was the inaugural Arkansas International Writer-at-Risk Residency Fellow, currently enrolled at the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop. He was a 2019 Graywolf African Fiction Prize finalist.
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