The Thing Around Your Neck

Searing and profound, suffused with beauty, sorrow, and longing, the stories in The Thing Around Your Neck map, with Adichie's signature emotional wisdom, the collision of two cultures and the deeply human struggle to reconcile them.

Critics praised Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's debut novel Purple Hibiscus, calling it "one of the best novels to come out of Africa in years" (Baltimore Sun) and praising its "prose as lush as the Nigerian landscape that it powerfully evokes" (The Boston Globe). The Washington Post dubbed Adichie "the twenty-first-century daughter of Chinua Achebe." Three years later, her critically acclaimed novel Half of a Yellow Sun was published, immediately becoming a classic and showcasing her amazing talents of exquisite narrative, understanding compassion, and searing insight into the souls of her characters. Adichie now focuses her sharp lens on both Nigeria and America in her most personal and skillfully composed book to date. Twelve captivating tales deftly examine the bonds that unite men and women, parents and children, Africa and the United States.

In "A Private Experience," a medical student hides from a violent riot with a poor Muslim woman whose dignity and faith force her to confront the realities and fears she's been pushing away. In "Tomorrow is Too Far," a lady discovers the heartbreaking truth of her brother's death. The young mother at the core of "Imitation" discovers that her husband has relocated his mistress into their Lagos house, endangering her affluent life in Philadelphia. Additionally, the story's title portrays the crushing loneliness of a Nigerian girl who relocates to America only to find that it is quite unlike what she had imagined; while falling in love almost fulfills her dreams, a death in her native country compels her to reconsider them.

These tales depict the clash of two cultures and the very human attempt to reconcile them with Adichie's trademark emotional knowledge. They are searing and profound, infused with beauty, sadness, and desire. The Thing Around Your Neck is a thunderous endorsement of one of our greatest authors' extraordinary creative abilities.