A REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK AN AMAZON BEST BOOK OF THE YEARA beautiful exploration of the often
complex parameters of freedom prejudice and individual sense of self. Chibundu Onuzo has
written a captivating story about a mixed-race British woman who goes in search of the West
African father she never knew . . . [A] beautiful book about a woman brave enough to discover
her true identity.” —Reese WitherspoonOnuzo’s sneakily breezy highly entertaining novel leaves
the reader rethinking familiar narratives of colonization inheritance and liberation.” —The
New York Times Book ReviewNamed a Best Book of the Month by Entertainment Weekly Harper's
Bazaar and Time • Named a Most Anticipated Book of the Month by Goodreads PopSugar PureWow
LitHub Minneapolis Star-Tribune and BuzzfeedA woman wondering who she really is goes in
search of a father she never knew—only to find something far more complicated than she ever
expected—in this stirring narrative about family our capacity to change and the need to
belong” (Time).Anna is at a stage of her life when she's beginning to wonder who she really is.
In her 40s she has separated from her husband her daughter is all grown up and her
mother—the only parent who raised her—is dead. Searching through her mother's belongings one
day Anna finds clues about the African father she never knew. His student diaries chronicle
his involvement in radical politics in 1970s London. Anna discovers that he eventually became
the president—some would say dictator—of a small nation in West Africa. And he is still
alive... When Anna decides to track her father down a journey begins that is disarmingly
moving funny and fascinating. Like the metaphorical bird that gives the novel its name
Sankofa expresses the importance of reaching back to knowledge gained in the past and bringing
it into the present to address universal questions of race and belonging the overseas
experience for the African diaspora and the search for a family's hidden roots. Examining
freedom prejudice and personal and public inheritance Sankofa is a story for anyone who has
ever gone looking for a clear identity or home and found something more complex in its place.
