Girl
Edna O'Brien"O'Brien has no intention of letting the reader look away, even for a second... a stunning novel that forces us to confront one of the more shocking events of recent years. It's a painful read, but an absolutely essential one..." - Michael Schaub, NPR
I was a girl once, but not anymore. So begins Girl, Edna O’Brien’s harrowing portrayal of the young women abducted by Boko Haram. Set in the deep countryside of northeast Nigeria, this is a brutal story of incarceration, horror, and hunger; a hair-raising escape into the manifold terrors of the forest; and a descent into the labyrinthine bureaucracy and hostility awaiting a victim who returns home with a child blighted by enemy blood.
"The random-seeming quality of the storytelling is something new for O’Brien, whose usual pace is more measured and contemplative. The effect is disorienting, and it’s meant to be... The rhythm of Girl is intermittent and fearsomely strong; reading this novel is like riding the rapids... O’Brien’s understanding of, and sympathy for, girls in trouble transcends culture — the place she’s made for them in her fiction is practically a country of its own." - Terrence Rafferty, The Atlantic
From one of the century's greatest living authors, Girl is an unforgettable story of one victim’s astonishing survival and her unflinching faith in the redemption of the human heart.