Description
This passage from a review of A Grain of Wheat by Hilary Mantel summarizes the novel's themes and plot. The novel follows the lives of several characters in a Kenyan village during the 1952-1960 Emergency, which led to Kenya's independence. The characters must make compromises in order to survive during this time, and many are tested in their relationships. The novel is Ngugi's best-known and most ambitious work.
A novel that portrays several characters in a village whose intertwined lives are transformed by the 1952-1960 Emergency in Kenya. It features a reticent Mugo, the village's chosen hero and a man haunted by a terrible secret.
Originally published in 1967, Ngugi's third novel is his best known and most ambitious work. A Grain of Wheat portrays several characters in a village whose intertwined lives are transformed by the 1952-1960 Emergency in Kenya. As the action follows the village's arrangements for Uhuru (independence) Day. This is a novel of stories within stories, a narrative interwoven with myth as well as allusions to real-life leaders of the nationalist struggle, including Jomo Kenyatta. At the centre of it all is the reticent Mugo, the village's chosen hero and a man haunted by a terrible secret. As events unfold, compromises are forced, friendships are betrayed and loves are tested.
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