Error loading page.
Try refreshing the page. If that doesn't work, there may be a network issue, and you can use our self test page to see what's preventing the page from loading.
Learn more about possible network issues or contact support for more help.

A Bit of Difference

ebook
3 of 3 copies available
3 of 3 copies available
Single life in modern-day Nigeria is far from simple, in this new novel from the winner of the Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa. Deola Bello is tired of London, but she's not ready to give up on life. When her charity job takes her home to Nigeria, her thoughts turn to the future, as she questions whether her peripatetic existence is still right for her. Deola encounters changes in her family and her home, while a new friendship with Wale, a charming hotelier, offers more lasting potential. But is Deola really equipped to cope with the altered social mores that are part of modern Nigeria? Sefi Atta's urgent, incisive voice guides us through this intricate and vivid narrative, challenging preconceived notions of Africa and bringing to life contemporary Nigeria. With boldness and refreshing honesty, A Bit of Difference looks at the complexities of our globalised world, through a very human lens.
  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

  • Formats

  • Languages

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from June 4, 2012
      Atta, winner of the Wole Soyinka Prize for African Literature for Everything Good Will Come (2006), delivers on the promise of her well-received early work with this breakout which is at once an American successor to classic Nigerian literature and a commentary on how the English-speaking world reads Africa. Lagos born Deola Bello enjoys her job in the London office of an international charity organization, but sees how her home country is sold abroad and is all too aware of the Western attitudes that cling to her African friends, like the intellectual Bandele and the born-again Subu, while shaping the perception of her English schoolfellows and American colleagues. But unlike Bandele, Deola still considers herself Nigerian, and a trip home to visit her widowed mother and testy, troubled siblings—all coping with the legacy of their autocratic father—provides Atta with the opportunity to examine the realities of modern African life, from HIV to the upwardly-mobile Diaspora. Like Teju Cole’s Open City, Deola’s story is low on drama but rich in life, though Atta’s third-person voice makes less for a portrait of a mind in transit than a life caught in freeze-frame, pinned between two continents and radiating pathos. Wholly believable, especially in its nuanced approach to racial identity, the story feels extremely modern while excelling at the novelist’s traditional task: finding the common reality between strangers and rendering alien circumstances familiar.

Formats

  • OverDrive Read
  • EPUB ebook

Languages

  • English

Loading