Series:

Heinemann African Writers

5 total works

Cover of The River Between

The River Between

by Ngugi wa Thiong'o

Published 7 February 1966
THE RIVER BETWEEN explores life on the Makuyu and Kameno ridges of Kenya in the early days of white settlement. Faced with an alluring, new religion and 'magical' customs, the Gikuyu people are torn between those who fear the unknown and those who see beyond it. Some fellow Joshua and his fiery brand of Christianity while others proudly pursue tribal independence. In the midst of this disunity stands Waiyaki, a dedicated visionary born to a line of prophets. He struggles to educate the tribe- a task he sees as the only unifying link between the two factions - but his plans for the future raise issues which will determine both his own and the Gikuyu's survival.

Cover of Matigari

Matigari

by Ngugi wa Thiong'o

Published 31 May 1989
A moral fable in which Martigari, a freedom fighter, emerges from the forest in the political dawn of post-independence Kenya. Searching for his family and a new future, he finds little has changed.

Cover of I Will Marry When I Want
This play, which was developed with Kikuyu actors at the Kamiriithu Cultural Centre at Limuru, proved so powerful, especially in the use of song, that it was banned and probably contributed to Ngugi's detention without trial.

Cover of Devil on the Cross

Devil on the Cross

by Ngugi wa Thiong'o

Published 7 June 1982

This remarkable and symbolic novel centres around Wariinga's tragedy and uses it to tell a story of contemporary Kenya faced with the "satan of capitalism." Ngugi has directed his writing even more firmly towards the commitment that he shows in Writers in Politics and Detained: A Writer's Prison Diary. The novel was written secretly in prison. It was discovered when almost complete but unexpectedly returned to him on his release. Such was the demand for the original Gikuyu edition that it reprinted on publication.

Cover of Weep Not Child

Weep Not Child

by Ngugi wa Thiong'o

Published 7 December 1964
An extraordinary story about the effects of the Mau Mau war on the lives of ordinary men and women in Kenya.