Explore our new BookBrowse Community Forum!

Excerpt from Buried Beneath the Baobab Tree by Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

Summary |  Excerpt |  Reviews |  Beyond the Book |  Readalikes |  Genres & Themes |  Author Bio

Buried Beneath the Baobab Tree by Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani

Buried Beneath the Baobab Tree

by Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani
  • BookBrowse Review:
  • Critics' Consensus:
  • First Published:
  • Sep 4, 2018, 336 pages
  • Paperback:
  • Mar 2020, 336 pages
  • Reviewed by BookBrowse Book Reviewed by:
    Karen Lewis
  • Genres & Themes
  • Publication Information
  • Rate this book

  • Buy This Book

About this Book

Print Excerpt


Bang! Bang! Bang!

More thunder.

"Allah ya'kawo ruwa! Allah ya'kawo ruwa! God bring the rains! God bring the rains," they shout. "Let the rains come! Let the rains come!"

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Jacob rushes back into the house and clutches my thighs.

"What is the matter?" I ask.

And then the unmistakeable sound of roaring engines not far away. And of screaming children. And of angry guns.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

And of ferocious men.

"Allahu akbar! Allahu akbar!" they shout. "Allah is great! Allah is great!"

We scramble outside after the first firebomb lights our thatched roof. Papa reaches for his machete leaning against the wall in the veranda. The man on the motorbike fires his gun.

Bang!

No time for me to think or feel as Papa drops to the floor. The men on motorbikes are everywhere, firing their weapons in the air.

Men, women, boys, and girls scatter out of their homes and toward the hills.

Boko Haram is in our village.

Excerpted from the book Buried Beneath the Baobab Tree by Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani. Copyright © 2018 by Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani. Reprinted with permission of Katherine Tegen Books / HarperCollins Children's Books.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Beyond the Book:
  Baobab: The Tree of Life

Top Picks

  • Book Jacket: Our Evenings
    Our Evenings
    by Alan Hollinghurst
    Alan Hollinghurst's novel Our Evenings is the fictional autobiography of Dave Win, a British ...
  • Book Jacket: Graveyard Shift
    Graveyard Shift
    by M. L. Rio
    Following the success of her debut novel, If We Were Villains, M. L. Rio's latest book is the quasi-...
  • Book Jacket: The Sisters K
    The Sisters K
    by Maureen Sun
    The Kim sisters—Minah, Sarah, and Esther—have just learned their father is dying of ...
  • Book Jacket: Linguaphile
    Linguaphile
    by Julie Sedivy
    From an infant's first attempts to connect with the world around them to the final words shared with...

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket

    Pony Confidential
    by Christina Lynch

    In this whimsical mystery, a grumpy pony must clear his beloved human's name from a murder accusation.

Who Said...

He has only half learned the art of reading who has not added to it the more refined art of skipping and skimming

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

F the M

and be entered to win..

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.