Bøger af Flora Nwapa

'What we are all praying for is children. What else do we want if we have children?'These two sentences from Idu contain the basic theme of this novel set in a rural Nigerian community where the life of the individual is woven into that of the community as a whole. Idu, the protagonist, faces the challenge of infertility, leading her husband Adiewere to take a second wife. Eventually, Idu gives birth to a son named Ijoma, but it takes four years before she becomes pregnant again. However, tragedy strikes as Adiewere mysteriously dies before the arrival of their second child. Defying societal norms, Idu rejects the idea of marrying her husband's brother and instead chooses to join her husband in the afterlife, showcasing that children alone do not define her ultimate desires in life.Idu stands as a testament to Nwapa's commitment to portraying the lives and struggles of African women in the face of societal pressures.

Pioneering author Flora Nwapa paints the stirring tale of a young wife attempting to carve out her own independence against the traditional beliefs of Igbo society.Ever since she was young, Efuru has been famed for her beauty, intelligence, and noble lineage. So her family is appalled when they uncover her betrothal to an unremarkable villager. Although generous in her devotion to him, Efuru soon begins to realise that love is weak in comparison to centuries of superstition and tradition.Her only reprieve is in the strange, vivid dream that visits her at night - one of an ethereal woman sitting at the bottom of a lake, entrancing Efuru with her beauty and lavish piles of riches.When a village sage reveals to Efuru that she has been chosen as a worshipper for the powerful lake goddess, Uhamiri, it seems she can finally find meaning in something beyond her marriage. Yet, even under the attention of the divine, Efuru will struggle to overcome the pressures of a community that values her womb beyond all else.From pregnancy to prophesy, female circumcision to the complications of polygamy, Efuru voyages to the core of the female experience in post-independent Nigeria. Flora Nwapa writes with the clear and impactful depth that has made Efuru an instant literary classic.'If Chinua Achebe and Flora Nwapa [had] not written the books they did, when they did, and how they did, I would perhaps not have had the emotional courage to write.' Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

The Lake Goddess came to be Flora Nwapa's last novel, yet possibly her most important one, as it restores African culture and spirituality. "Nwapa's message is clear: she-Ona/Ogbuide/woman-may have many children, but she also independently succeeds in her own life, and she is a source of healing and inspiration to all human beings suffering from the ills and madness of modern society worldwide. The goddess whom Nwapa invoked finally reemerges in her original glory in The Lake Goddess to brighten women's path. Her powers and mysteries shine, once again, despite the onslaught of foreign powers and their religions, when Nwapa accounts for the destructive forces of globalization and for attempts to push Uhammiri's children into the abyss of derangement, to rob the deity of her benevolence, and to deny her people both children and wealth. Yet, when the lake goddess finally appears with her image fully restored in Nwapa's last novel, the messenger, who invoked her, has left the land, crossed the river, and joined her ancestors to live on.

The moving story of a group of Nigerian women which follows their lives from their schooldays together through the trials and tribulations of their adult lives. Through their stories we see some of the universal problems faced by women everywhere: the struggle for financial independence and a rewarding career, the difficulties of relationships, and the dilemmas of bringing up a family, often without a partner. Set against the background of a developing Nigeria, this novel shows Nwapa at her finest.

A novel depicting Biafran women and their importance in sustaining the society.