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Half of a Yellow Sun cover art

Half of a Yellow Sun

By: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Narrated by: Zainab Jah
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Publisher's Summary

Winner of the Baileys Prize Best of the Best

Winner of the Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction 2007, this is a heartbreaking, exquisitely written literary masterpiece.

Ugwu, a boy from a poor village, works as a houseboy for a university professor. Olanna, a young woman, has abandoned her life of privilege in Lagos to live with her charismatic new lover, the professor. And Richard, a shy English writer, is in thrall to Olanna's enigmatic twin sister. As the horrific Biafran War engulfs them, they are thrown together and pulled apart in ways they had never imagined.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's masterpiece, winner of the Orange Prize for Fiction, is a novel about Africa in a wider sense: about the end of colonialism, ethnic allegiances, class and race - and about the ways in which love can complicate all of these things.

©2016 Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (P)2016 HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Critic Reviews

"Vividly written, thrumming with life...a remarkable novel. In its compassionate intelligence as in its capacity for intimate portraiture, this novel is a worthy successor to such twentieth-century classics as Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart and V. S. Naipaul's A Bend in the River." (Joyce Carol Oates)
"Here is a new writer endowed with the gift of ancient storytellers." (Chinua Achebe)
"[Deserves] a place alongside such works as Pat Barker's Regeneration trilogy and Helen Dunmore's depiction of the Leningrad blockade, The Siege." ( The Guardian)
"Heartbreaking, funny, exquisitely written and, without doubt, a literary masterpiece and a classic." ( Daily Mail)
"Stunning. This novel is an immense achievement." ( The Observer)

What listeners say about Half of a Yellow Sun

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Igbo language

The narrator struggled with Igbo language. The world watched while Biafrans died and the killings are still going on.

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Excellent

Amazing story and great performance by the narrator. Highly recommended. Looking forward to listening to more of Adichie’s work.

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Heartbreaking Story

This was a heartbreaking story of the Biafran war in Nigeria told through the eyes of twin sisters and the effects on them and their families and friends. It was well told, though graphic in places. Narration was good.

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Soulful and Captivating Story

Loved the writing and the narration. Did not know the history of Biafra and its story - this book captures the political, social, and cultural history of the region during the 60s in an incredible manner.

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superb writing

very well narrated.

(had some technical issues playing the book and had to relaunch several times)

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The world was silent while we died.

This is an encredibly powerful book full of deeply appealing characters that provided great insights into the plight of minorities in Nigeria and the horror that was experienced by Biafrans. I thought it was beautifully narrated. I had trouble turning the book off, and I am sure it will remain with me long after the closing credits. Highly recommended.

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While the world watch us die

Beautifully narrated.
An comprehensive and compelling story on the country of Biafra.
As a child growing up in Australia I remember my mother saying - eat your dinner think of all the starving children in Biafra.
I loved this book with the real life rich characters.

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Opened my Eyes to a Whole World

The Biafra war happened when I was young. I had heard talks by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie which I loved, so I looked for her books. The powerful characters from Ugwu, to Kainene became so real, I absolutely loved it. I have lived in Uganda for 18 years, so the deep cultural African dynamics resonated with me. Thank you for this rich experience.

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Raw pain

How difficult to hear of this war, Biafra, a country I only knew had existed because of its starved peoples, and their tragic images which reached the press of the time.
As always, a gripping work by Chimamanda. I only wish I had known this truth growing up. A very difficult and sad truth.

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Deeply moving

This is a beautifully written account of a turbulent time in Nigerian history and the impact on the lives of two sisters, their households and communities. It taught me much that I did not know. It is lengthy and often confronting, but it held me from the start. The narration was wonderful. It was a privilege to listen to this extraordinary work.

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