THE ROAD TO THE COUNTRY

358pp., map, paperback, Reprint, Penguin Books, London, (2024) 2025

ISBN: 9781804943809

In a country torn apart by civil war, Kunle and Tunde are separated, each on opposite sides. Desperate to find his brother, Kunle joins an army and to fights in a war he barely understands. Amidst the chaos, he forms deep, lifelong friendships and falls in love, always hoping to reunite with his family.

"Obioma writes with gorgeous restraint reminiscent of the intricate prose of a Tolstoy novella. Every sentence delivers a precise and heartfelt blow, Hardly anyone writing today is delivering this level of intricacy, lyricism and control." Alexandra Fuller

"A master of metaphor ... The Road to the Country's depiction of trench warfare, the extraordinary stress of being a soldier under constant fire, and the camaraderie that bonds men and women together recalls Erich Maria Remarque's Alls Quiet on the Western Front" Financial Times

Chigozie Obioma was born in Akure, Nigeria. His two previous novels, The Fishermen and An Orchestra of Minorities, were both finalists for the Booker Prize. The Fishermen won the inaugural FT/Oppenheimer Award for Fiction, the NAACP Image Awards for Debut Literary Work, and the Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction. Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, he divides his time between the United States and Nigeria.