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In The New Tribe, pioneering author Buchi Emecheta tells the tale of a young Nigerian boy adopted by a white family. Life changes overnight for the Arlingtons when an abandoned baby girl, Julia, arrives unexpectedly on their doorstep. The couple take her in and settle into family life. But then, just two years later, their lives change once again when they are told a Nigerian mother is in desperate need of a loving home for her baby boy, Chester. Instantly marked as different from the other children in his school - and even from his own family - Chester's pain and confusion at growing up an outcast ignites in him a desire to find out about his biological family.
In this poignant, heartwarming story of Chester's journey through childhood, Buchi Emecheta weaves together a tale of love and acceptance while illuminating the vital importance of self-discovery.
'We are able to speak because [Buchi Emecheta] first spoke.'
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie'Her name deserves to be embedded in our literary history.'
Bernardine Evaristo 'A pioneer among female African writers.'
Guardian
About the author
Buchi Emecheta was born in 1944 in Lagos, Nigeria.
At the age of 22, she began studying sociology at the University of London and was awarded her doctorate in 1991.
Her novel, The Slave Girl (1977) won the 1979 New Statesman's Jock Campbell Award for Commonwealth Writers. Emecheta was later listed among the Best of Young British Novelists in 1983 and was also appointed OBE in 2005 for her services to literature.
Following her success as an author, Emecheta travelled widely as a visiting professor, lecturing at universities such as the University of Calabar, Yale University, and the University of London.
Alongside her son, she ran the Ogwugwu Afor Publishing Company and was a regular contributor to the New Statesman, Times Literary Supplement, and the Guardian.
Buchi Emecheta died in 2017.
Summary
In The New Tribe, pioneering author Buchi Emecheta tells the tale of a young Nigerian boy adopted by a white family.
Life changes overnight for the Arlingtons when an abandoned baby girl, Julia, arrives unexpectedly on their doorstep. The couple take her in and settle into family life. But then, just two years later, their lives change once again when they are told a Nigerian mother is in desperate need of a loving home for her baby boy, Chester. Instantly marked as different from the other children in his school - and even from his own family - Chester's pain and confusion at growing up an outcast ignites in him a desire to find out about his biological family.
In this poignant, heartwarming story of Chester's journey through childhood, Buchi Emecheta weaves together a tale of love and acceptance while illuminating the vital importance of self-discovery.
'We are able to speak because [Buchi Emecheta] first spoke.' Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
'Her name deserves to be embedded in our literary history.' Bernardine Evaristo
'A pioneer among female African writers.' Guardian
Foreword
In The New Tribe, pioneering author Buchi Emecheta tells the tale of a young Nigerian boy adopted by a white family.
Additional text
A pioneer among female African writers
