Americanah
- 400 pages
- 14 hours of reading
A young woman from Nigeria leaves behind her home and her first love to start a new life in America, only to find her dreams are not all she expected.






A young woman from Nigeria leaves behind her home and her first love to start a new life in America, only to find her dreams are not all she expected.
The stories in this collection from Orange-Prize winner Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie straddle the cultures of Nigeria and the West. Her characters battle with the responsibilities of modern life, a world in which identity is too often compromised.
Eleanor Oliphant leads a simple life. She wears the same clothes to work every day, eats the same meal deal for lunch every day and buys the same two bottles of vodka to drink every weekend. Eleanor Oliphant is happy. Nothing is missing from her carefully timetabled life. Except, sometimes, everything. One simple act of kindness is about to shatter the walls Eleanor has built around herself. Now she must learn how to navigate the world that everyone else seems to take for granted - while searching for the courage to face the dark corners she's avoided all her life.
At the end of the Second World War, Cyril Conroy combines luck and a single canny investment to begin an enormous real estate empire, propelling his family from poverty to enormous wealth. His first order of business is to buy the Dutch House, a lavish estate in the suburbs outside of Philadelphia. Meant as a surprise for his wife, the house sets in motion the undoing of everyone he loves. The story is told by Cyril’s son Danny, as he and his older sister, the brilliantly acerbic and self-assured Maeve, are exiled from the house where they grew up by their stepmother. The two wealthy siblings are thrown back into the poverty their parents had escaped from and find that all they have to count on is one another. It is this unshakable bond between them that both saves their lives and thwarts their futures. Set over the course of five decades, The Dutch House is a dark fairy tale about two smart people who cannot overcome their past. Despite every outward sign of success, Danny and Maeve are only truly comfortable when they’re together. Throughout their lives, they return to the well-worn story of what they’ve lost with humor and rage. But when at last they’re forced to confront the people who left them behind, the relationship between an indulged brother and his ever-protective sister is finally tested.
From the author of the 2 million+ copy, worldwide bestseller, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, an exquisite, funny and heartrending parallel story.When Queenie Hennessy discovers that Harold Fry is walking the length of England to save her, and all she has to do is wait, she is shocked. Her note had explained she was dying. How can she wait?A new volunteer at the hospice suggests that Queenie should write again; only this time she must tell Harold everything. In confessing to secrets she has hidden for twenty years, she will find atonement for the past. As the volunteer points out, ‘Even though you've done your travelling, you're starting a new journey too.'Queenie thought her first letter would be the end of the story. She was wrong. It was the beginning.Told in simple, emotionally-honest prose, with a mischievous bite, this is a novel about the journey we all must take to learn who we are; it is about loving and letting go. And most of all it is about finding joy in unexpected places and at times we least expect.
"Nineteen-year-old Vivian Morris has just been kicked out of Vassar College, owing to her lackluster freshman-year performance. Her affluent parents send her to Manhattan to live with her Aunt Peg, who owns a flamboyant, crumbling midtown theater called the Lily Playhouse. There Vivian is introduced to an entire cosmos of unconventional and charismatic characters, from the fun-chasing showgirls to a sexy male actor, a grand-dame actress, a lady-killer writer, and no-nonsense stage manager. But when Vivian makes a personal mistake that results in professional scandal, it turns her new world upside down in ways that it will take her years to fully understand. Ultimately, though, it leads her to a new understanding of the kind of life she craves--and the kind of freedom it takes to pursue it. It will also lead to the love of her life, a love that stands out from all the rest. Now eighty-nine years old and telling her story at last, Vivian recalls how the events of those years altered the course of her life--and the gusto and autonomy with which she approached it. "At some point in a woman's life, she just gets tired of being ashamed all the time," she muses. "After that, she is free to become whoever she truly is." Written with a powerful wisdom about human desire and connection, City of Girls is a love story like no other."--Jacket
Get ready for the biggest thriller of 2018... What did she see? It's been ten long months since Anna Fox last left her home. Ten months during which she has haunted the rooms of her old New York house like a ghost, lost in her memories, too terrified to step outside. Anna's lifeline to the real world is her window, where she sits day after day, watching her neighbours. When the Russells move in, Anna is instantly drawn to them. A picture-perfect family of three, they are an echo of the life that was once hers. But one evening, a frenzied scream rips across the silence, and Anna witnesses something no one was supposed to see. Now she must do everything she can to uncover the truth about what really happened. But even if she does, will anyone believe her? And can she even trust herself?
A Long Way from Home follows Irene Bobs, a fast-driving enthusiast, and her car salesman husband as they tackle the grueling Redex Trial in 1950s Australia. This thrilling tale explores the nation's connection to its ancient culture amid the challenges of love and pain during a brutal car race.
'LOVED it. I read it in 3 hours in one sitting' Goodreads reviewer, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ THEIR FIRST MISTAKE WAS INVITING HER IN... Rose has it all - the gorgeous children, the husband, the beautiful home. But then her best friend Polly comes to stay. Very soon, Rose's cosy world starts to fall apart at the seams - her baby falls dangerously ill, her husband is distracted - is Polly behind it all? It appears that once you invite Polly into your home, it's very difficult to get her out again... The original psychological thriller: a dark, deliciously unsettling drama, perfect for fans of I Let You Go, The Couple Next Door and The Girl on the Train. Readers LOVE Cuckoo! 'Brilliant... truly chilling' Sophie Hannah 'Wow. This book is truly amazing... I devoured it' Goodreads reviewer, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 'Totally compelling'Daily Mail 'This is one smart and sharp psychological thriller... a shiveringly good read' Goodreads reviewer, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 'A read-in-one-sitting book!... Julia Crouch writes with disturbing brilliance' Goodreads reviewer, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 'Completely thrilling, I promise anyone, male, female, young, old, this book won't disappoint!' Goodreads reviewer, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 'I was more and more gripped with the more I read... the ending still managed to blow me away. This was a book that stayed with me for days' Goodreads reviewer, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
Seven-year-old Che was abandoned by his radical Harvard-student parents during the upheaval of the 1960s, and since then has been raised in isolated privilege by his New York grandmother. He yearns to see or hear news of his famous outlaw parents, but his grandmother refuses to tell him anything.
Summer, 1972: In the claustrophobic heat, eleven-year-old Byron and his friend begin âe~Operation Perfectâe(tm), a hapless mission to rescue Byronâe(tm)s mother from impending crisis. Winter, present day: As frost creeps across the moor, Jim cleans tables in the local café, a solitary figure struggling with OCD. His job is a relief from the rituals that govern his nights. Little would seem to connect them except that two seconds can change everything. And if your world can be shattered in an instant, can time also put it right?
A year after his divorce, Jayojit Chatterjee, an economics professor in the American Midwest, travels to his native Calcutta with his young son, Bonny, to spend the summer holidays with his parents. Jayojit is nomore accustomed to spending time alone with Bonny-who lives with his mother in California-than he is with the Admiral and his wife, whose daily rhythms have become so synchronized as to becomecompletely foreign to their son. Together, the unlikely foursome struggles to pass the protracted hours of summer, each in his or her own way mourning Jayojit's failed marriage. And as Jayojit walks the bustlingstreets of Calcutta, he finds himself not only caught between clashing memories of India and America, but also between different versions of his life, revisiting lost opportunity, realized potential, and lingering desire. As he did in his acclaimed trilogy "Freedom Song, " Amit Chaudhuri lovingly captures life's every detail on the page while infusing the quiet interactions of daily existence with depthand compassion." " "From the Trade Paperback edition."