The Famished Road

The Famished Road

Summary

Journey between the land of the Living and the spirit world in this magical Booker Prize-winning novel

'So long as we are alive, so long as we feel, so long as we love, everything in us is an energy we can use'

Azaro, is a spirit child, who in many traditions of Nigeria exists between life and death. Born into a difficult world, Azaro awakens with a smile on his face. Despite belonging to a spirit world made of enchantment, where there is no suffering, Azaro chooses to stay in the land of the Living: to feel it, endure it, know it and love it. This is his story.

'In a magnificent feat of sustained imaginative writing, Okri spins a tale that is epic and intimate at the same time. The Famished Road rekindled my sense of wonder. It made me, at age 50, look at the world through the wide eyes of a child' Michael Palin

'This is a book to generate apostles. People will be moved and, with stars in their eyes, will pass on the word' Time Out

'Ben Okri is incapable of writing a boring sentence' Independent on Sunday

Reviews

  • This is a book to generate apostles. People will be moved and, with stars in their eyes, will pass on the word
    Time Out

About the author

Ben Okri

Ben Okri has published 8 novels, including The Famished Road, as well as collections of poetry, short stories and essays. His work has been translated into more than twenty languages. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and has been awarded the OBE as well as numerous international prizes, including the Commonwealth Writers Prize for Africa, the Aga Khan Prize for Fiction and the Chianti Rufino-Antico Fattore. He is a Vice-President of the English Centre of International PEN and was presented with a Crystal Award by the World Economic Forum. He was born in Nigeria and lives in London.
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