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Cover of Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Purple Hibiscus

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

  • 307 pages · about 5 hours
  • First published 2003
  • 44 editions
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1 About this book

Purple Hibiscus is the 2003 debut novel by the Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. It follows Kambili Achike, a 15-year-old Nigerian teenage girl who struggles in the shadow of her father, Eugene. Eugene is a successful businessman, a beloved philanthropist, and a devout Catholic, who nevertheless violently abuses his family.

A post-colonial novel, it received positive reviews upon publication. The novel was published in the United States on 30 October 2003, by Algonquin Books. A year later, Fourth Estate published the book in the United Kingdom and in 2006, Kachifo Limited published it in Nigeria.

Summary adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

  • Nigeria
  • Domestic fiction
  • Coming of age
  • Family life
  • Romance
  • Teenage girls
  • Children of the rich
  • Brothers and sisters

2 What to expect

A coming-of-age novel narrated by Kambili, a fifteen-year-old in a wealthy, strictly Catholic family in Nigeria whose father is admired in public and violent at home. It deals with religious extremism, family cruelty, and the freedom she finds in her aunt's more open household, against a background of political unrest. The voice is quiet and observant, the pace measured, and the subject matter includes domestic abuse.

Good for readers who want: Nigerian fiction, coming-of-age stories, and family drama.

3 About Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Born 1977

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (; born 15 September 1977) is a Nigerian writer, whose works include fiction, nonfiction, and lectures. She is widely recognised as a central figure in postcolonial feminist literature. Born into an Igbo family in Enugu, Nigeria, Adichie was educated at the University of Nigeria in Nsukka, where she studied medicine for a year and half.

Bio adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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