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    The River Between

    Part of Penguin African Writers Series

    Author Ngugi wa Thiong'o
    Introduction by Uzodinma Iweala
    Series edited by Chinua Achebe
    Ebook
    Penguin Adult HC/TR | Penguin Classics
    On sale Apr 28, 2015 | 176 Pages | 9780698166776
    Grades 9-12 + AP/IB
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    A 50th-anniversary edition of one of the most powerful novels by the great Kenyan author and Nobel Prize nominee

    A legendary work of African literature, this moving and eye-opening novel lucidly captures the drama of a people and culture whose world has been overturned. The River Between explores life in the mountains of Kenya during the early days of white settlement. Faced with a choice between an alluring new religion and their own ancestral customs, the Gikuyu people are torn between those who fear the unknown and those who see beyond it.

    For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
    © Daniel Anderson
    Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o (1938–2025) was an award-winning novelist, playwright, and essayist from Kenya whose novels have been translated into more than thirty languages. View titles by Ngugi wa Thiong'o
    “Beautifully compact . . . It takes its reader on a journey out of the colonial matrix and into the world of the real, showing us life reclaimed in all its complexity from the simplifying template of colonialism. . . . It has an undeniable power.” —Uzodinma Iweala, from the Introduction

    “Unparalleled as a chronicler of elemental change.” —The Guardian

    “It has the rare qualities of restraint, intelligence and sensitivity.” —The Times Literary Supplement

    “A sensitive novel about the Gikuyu in the melting pot that sometimes touches the grandeur of tap-root simplicity.” —The Guardian

    About

    A 50th-anniversary edition of one of the most powerful novels by the great Kenyan author and Nobel Prize nominee

    A legendary work of African literature, this moving and eye-opening novel lucidly captures the drama of a people and culture whose world has been overturned. The River Between explores life in the mountains of Kenya during the early days of white settlement. Faced with a choice between an alluring new religion and their own ancestral customs, the Gikuyu people are torn between those who fear the unknown and those who see beyond it.

    For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

    Author

    © Daniel Anderson
    Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o (1938–2025) was an award-winning novelist, playwright, and essayist from Kenya whose novels have been translated into more than thirty languages. View titles by Ngugi wa Thiong'o

    Praise

    “Beautifully compact . . . It takes its reader on a journey out of the colonial matrix and into the world of the real, showing us life reclaimed in all its complexity from the simplifying template of colonialism. . . . It has an undeniable power.” —Uzodinma Iweala, from the Introduction

    “Unparalleled as a chronicler of elemental change.” —The Guardian

    “It has the rare qualities of restraint, intelligence and sensitivity.” —The Times Literary Supplement

    “A sensitive novel about the Gikuyu in the melting pot that sometimes touches the grandeur of tap-root simplicity.” —The Guardian

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