Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: book review

Half of a Yellow Sun (2006) is set in Nigeria in the 1960s.

Odenigbo, a university mathematics professor, employs thirteen-year-old Ugwu as a live-in houseboy. The professor has hopes that Ugwu will go to university one day. Odenigbo’s lover Olanna Ozobia moves in too, and his British friend, Richard Churchill, falls in love with Olanna’s twin sister Kainene Ozabia.

Their lives are set amid the violent Biafra civil war from 1967-1970, and the establishment of an independent Nigeria. They must flee when the Hausa soldiers advance towards their rural town.

Everything is tested: Ugwu’s university dreams, Odenigbo’s loyalty to Olanna when he meets a young village girl Amala, Richard’s love for Kainene, ethnic allegiances, the country’s relationship to its colonial rulers - and Richard’s loyalty to country or to love.

Beautifully told, the writing is both empathetic and powerful. The characters are well-developed and believable as they face challenges close to their hearts. It’s an epic read, concentrated over a decade, following the growth of a handful of people, but also a nation.

MARTINA NICOLLSis an international aid and development consultant, and the authorof:- Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom(2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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