
Waiting for An Angel
A Novel
Paperback
Our Retail Price:£12.99
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"Habila's fictionalization...reveals the true casualties of oppression better than any news or history."—Library Journal
Helon Habila's vivid, exciting, and heart-wrenching debut opens a window onto a world in some ways familiar-with its sensuously depicted streets, student life, and vibrant local characters-yet ruled by one of the world's most corrupt and oppressive regimes, a scandal that ultimately drives Lomba to take a risk in the name of something greater than himself. Habila captures the energy, sensitivity, despair, and stubborn hope of a new African generation with a combination of gritty realism and poetic beauty. Winner of the Caine Prize for African Writing 2001. Reading group guide included.
Reviews
“This is a startlingly vivid novel....Habila paints an extraordinary tableau...bringing sounds, sights and smells to life with his spare prose and flair for metaphor.” — Publishers Weekly
“Brilliantly captures the reign of terror in Lagos in the 1990s.” — Publishing News
“Habila leaves us a chink of hope, just as he leaves space for irony, love, heartbreak, and humor as the punches rain down....This is a beautifully judged work, powerful, compassionate and complete.” — The Observer
“In elegant, economical, and often lyrical prose, Habila captures the state of terror under which Nigerians were forced to live.” — The Times [London]
“Habila employs a prose whose spirituality recalls Wole Soyinka, Amilcar Cabral and King.” — Wally Hammond, Time Out
“Like an angel, Habila has breathed new life into his world.” — Village Voice
“Tender, funny and compassionate.” — Doris Lessing