SPEAK NO EVIL

214pp., paperback, Reprint, London, (2018) 2019

“The classic coming-out narrative describes how the central character makes a leap from one identity to another, into a different, freer life, while the classic immigrant novel depicts what it’s like to straddle two worlds, old and new, with a foothold in each. Speak No Evil is both and neither ... The soul of Speak No Evil is the tortuous, exquisitely rendered relationship between Niru and his father.” The New Yorker

“Iweala unwinds crucial issues of choice and the burden of playing multiple parts; says Niru, ‘It’s too confusing for me to live all these lives when I want only one.’ Throughout a narrative spiraling toward tragedy, Niru’s pain is so palpable it will make you gasp ... Highly recommended.” Library Journal,

"A wrenching, tightly woven story about many kinds of love and many kinds of violence. Speak No Evil probes deeply but also with compassion the cruelties of a loving home. Iweala's characters confront you in close-up, as viscerally, bodily alive as any in contemporary fiction." Larissa MacFarquhar, author of Strangers Drowning: Impossible idealism, drastic choices, and the urge to help

Uzodinma Iweala is a Nigerian born in the United States. In 2006 he received the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize for his debut novel Beasts of No Nation. In 2007 he was selected as one of Granta's Best Young American Novelists. He lives in New York City and Lagos.