BOOK REVIEWS

 

|UNDER THE UDALA TREES|

CHINELO OKPARANTA

In Under The Udala Trees, Ijeoma comes of age as her nation, Nigeria, does; born before the country’s independence, she is eleven when a civil war breaks out. When sent away to safety by her mother, she meets another displaced child and they, star-crossed, fall in love. They are from different ethnic communities, and they are both girls. But when their love is discovered, Ijeoma learns that she will have to hide this part of herself. However, there is a cost to living inside a lie.

Inspired by Nigeria’s folktales and its war, Chinelo Okparanta shows us—in graceful and precise prose—how the struggles and divisions of a nation are inscribed into the souls of its citizens. Powerful and heartbreaking, Under The Udala Trees is a deeply moving commentary on identity, prejudice, and forbidden love.