A unique and devastatingly hopeful story about the paradox of love: even in the midst of war
and ina world dominated by violence and prejudice still love transcends." Mia Couto Ijeoma
comes of age as her nation does born before independence she is eleven when civil war breaks
out in the young republic of Nigeria. Sent away to safety she meets another displaced child
and they star-crossed fall in love. They are from different ethnic communities. They are also
both girls. When their love is discovered Ijeoma learns that she will have to hide this part
of herself. But there is a cost to living inside a lie. Inspired by Nigeria s folktales and
its war Under the Udala Trees shows through one woman s lifetime how the struggles and
divisions of a nation are inscribed into the souls of its citizens. In prose that is elegant
and spare with insights heartbreaking and electrifying it offers a story shot through with
hope that points to a future when a woman might just be able to become fully herself shaping
her life around truth and love. One day in 1968 at the height of the Biafran civil war
Ijeoma's father is killed and her world is transformed forever. Separated from her
grief-stricken mother she meets another young lost girl Amina and the two become
inseparable. Theirs is a relationship that will shake the foundations of Ijeoma's faith test
her resolve and flood her heart. In this masterful novel of faith love and redemption
Okparanta takes us from Ijeoma's childhood in war-torn Biafra through the perils and pleasures
of her blossoming sexuality her wrong turns and into the everyday sorrows and joys of
marriage and motherhood. As we journey with Ijeoma we are drawn to the question: what is the
value of love and what is the
