New historical fiction books to read in 2025

Reading lists

Chigozie Obioma

This powerfully evocative and intimate book is unarguably Obioma&rsquo;s finest. Through subtle, piercing, and gripping language, he renders those seemingly simple but unforgettable moments when our lives intertwine with history, anchoring you to the pages until the end. The Road to the Country will remind you that our existence is the histories of past, present, and the future&mdash;and the importance of understanding that. This is among the best books I&rsquo;ve read in a while and is certainly destined to be a classic

A spectacular blend of realism and mysticism, The Road to the Country is Chigozie Obioma at his finest. He is a novelist in a league of his own

Incredibly moving and hopeful. Both an adventure story and a portrait of brotherhood, love and companionship. In each beautifully crafted sentence, Obioma shows us how the best of humanity is often created under extreme pressure

Obioma is truly the heir to Chinua Achebe

A truly gifted writer, Obioma has proven yet again that he's a literary treasure

A spectacular blend of realism and mysticism, The Road to the Country is Chigozie Obioma at his finest. He is a novelist in a league of his own

Imbolo Mbue, New York Times bestselling author of Behold the Dreamers

Chigozie Obioma has proven his mastery of craft in this sweeping, brilliant, and stunning novel. The Road to the Country is an eloquent, beautifully rendered study on time and place and the history that changed a nation. His is a gorgeous prose, and the storytelling one expects from a gifted writer. . . . A truly unforgettable read

A writer who wields both the grand and the intimate with incredible precision and power. Obioma reminds us it is all real, even the surreal, and in his hands anything is possible. A wondrous novel

Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, author of CHAIN-GANG ALL-STARS

There is hope, warmth, and moments of beauty. After stepping into this book, I don&rsquo;t think I will ever completely step out. it will stay with me forever

Set in the Biafran War, [THE ROAD TO THE COUNTRY is] a gutsy, often gory coming-of-age tale with romance at its heart. We follow Kunle, whose quest to find his brother, lost during the conflict, sees him taking up arms &mdash; only for matters to get more complicated when he falls for a nurse in the field. Obioma follows the war novelist&rsquo;s time-honoured strategy of transporting us viscerally into the fear and panic of battle, to say nothing of the drudgery and squalor. Mystical interludes portray the action as viewed from afar by a seer, but it&rsquo;s earthy grit that propels this gripping period re-creation

The Road to the Country links the past and present. Mr Obioma has been described as the heir to Chinua Achebe, a 20th-century Nigerian novelist. He pulls from the same wells of rage and horror as his literary forebear did in a book from 2012 about the same war. Nigeria's wounds , still untreated, have festered

Fliting between the real and the supernatural, [The Road to the Country] captures the country’s faultlines in language and form

Astonishing ... the writing is so crisp, the story so unusual, that I couldn't put the book down ... A remarkable, mythic book

Obioma writes with gorgeous restraint reminiscent of the intricate prose of a Tolstoy novella. Every sentence delivers a precise and heartfelt blow. Hardly anyone writing today is delivering this level of intricacy, lyricism and control

A sweeping, heart-racing, mystical novel about a university student in Lagos trying to save his brother, and himself, amid the chaos of Nigeria’s civil war – a story of love, friendship, and personal triumph by the two-time Booker Prize finalist and “the heir to Chinua Achebe"

Chigozie Obioma is that rare thing: an original. His world is a mix of the real and the folkloric, and his writing sounds like no one else's

With heartbreaking realism, Obioma captures the dizzying atmosphere of despair, determination, and chaos surrounding the Biafran soldiers. This livewire war story is not to be missed’

With confident empathy, Obioma remarkably imbues breathtaking beauty into the (quotidian) horrors of war. Beyond geographical and historical specificities here, the world’s harrowing, ongoing conflagrations underscore the timeless urgency of Obioma’s latest triumph

Obioma has captured the essential elements of the war novel—the near-death experience, the tragic losses, the flickering moments of generosity and grace—but he inhabits them with a rare command, empathy, and intensity of feeling. … A top-tier war novel, inventive and cleareyed about the consequences of violence

I daresay the tragedy of the Biafran struggle has found its groaning masterpiece

Obioma's The Road to the Country is a powerful testimony to the importance of stories: the stories that came before us, the stories we create for our own selves, and the stories left behind'

Absorbing ... A tale Nigerians need to read

A master of metaphor ... The Road to the Country's depiction of trench warfare, the extraordinary stress of being a soldier under constant fire, and the camaraderie that bonds men and women together recalls Erich Maria Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front ... The language is resonant ... and often uniquely expressive in its depiction of the demands war places on an individual ... Obioma's novel can be read as a warning

The Road to the Country is a painstaking novel, and necessarily a painful one too ... It is a story as old as time itself, told across cultures and among all people: a man is thrust into something beyond him ... the novel is as much Bildungsroman as battle song

Obioma has spent both of his previous novels trying to work out the social and cultural substance of Nigeria. The Road to the Country is, perhaps aptly, given its title, his most defined attempt yet

Obioma powerfully reveals the brutality of war ... [with] threads of humanity, love and redemption throughout

A moving story of conflict, faith and fractured bonds, blending myth and realism with emotional power

FROM THE TWICE BOOKER-SHORTLISTED AUTHOR 
 
Longlisted for the Dublin Literary Award, the Joyce Carol Oates Prize, and the New American Voices Award 
 
Named a Best Book of the Year by the Economist, Boston Globe, and Kirkus Reviews 
 
'A major voice' SALMAN RUSHDIE 
'Remarkable' ALICE WALKER 
'A sweeping, heart-racing, mystical novel' NEW YORK TIMES 
'Chigozie Obioma is that rare thing: an original' WALL STREET JOURNAL 
'As much Bildungsroman as battle song' LONDON REVIEW OF BOOKS 
'A moving story of conflict, faith and fractured bonds, blending myth and realism with emotional power' iPAPERWhen a country is torn apart by civil war, Kunle and Tunde are separated, each on opposite sides. Desperate to find his brother, Kunle’s search becomes one of atonement, leading him to join an army and to fight in a war he barely understands. Amidst the chaos, he forms deep, lifelong friendships and falls in love. But his ultimate hope remains: to reunite with his family. 
 
An emotionally powerful masterpiece, Chigozie Obioma’s odyssey of brotherhood, love, and extraordinary courage set against the backdrop of the Biafran War captures the essence of a young man’s quest for redemption in a nation ablaze. 
 
'A gutsy ... coming-of-age tale with romance at its heart' DAILY MAIL 
 
'Mr Obioma has been described as the heir to Chinua Achebe ... He pulls from the same wells of rage and horror as his literary forebear did' ECONOMIST 
 
'A remarkable talent' INDEPENDENT 
 
'Incredibly moving and hopeful' NADIFA MOHAMMED 
 
'A wondrous novel' NANA KWAME ADJEI-BRENYAH

Chigozie Obioma

Praise for The Road to the Country

This powerfully evocative and intimate book is unarguably Obioma’s finest. Through subtle, piercing, and gripping language, he renders those seemingly simple but unforgettable moments when our lives intertwine ...

A spectacular blend of realism and mysticism, The Road to the Country is Chigozie Obioma at his finest. He is a novelist in a league of his own

Incredibly moving and hopeful. Both an adventure story and a portrait of brotherhood, love and companionship. In each beautifully crafted sentence, Obioma shows us how the best of humanity is often created un ...

This powerfully evocative and intimate book is unarguably Obioma’s finest. Through subtle, piercing, and gripping language, he renders those seemingly simple but unforgettable moments when our lives intertwine ...

A spectacular blend of realism and mysticism, The Road to the Country is Chigozie Obioma at his finest. He is a novelist in a league of his own

Incredibly moving and hopeful. Both an adventure story and a portrait of brotherhood, love and companionship. In each beautifully crafted sentence, Obioma shows us how the best of humanity is often created un ...

This powerfully evocative and intimate book is unarguably Obioma’s finest. Through subtle, piercing, and gripping language, he renders those seemingly simple but unforgettable moments when our lives intertwine ...

A spectacular blend of realism and mysticism, The Road to the Country is Chigozie Obioma at his finest. He is a novelist in a league of his own

Incredibly moving and hopeful. Both an adventure story and a portrait of brotherhood, love and companionship. In each beautifully crafted sentence, Obioma shows us how the best of humanity is often created un ...

Articles featuring Chigozie Obioma

New historical fiction books to read in 2025

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