Speak No Evil

Uzodinma Iweala

'Elegant and elegiac' Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Guardian

'A writer of spectacular talent' Observer

On the surface Niru leads a charmed life. Raised by two attentive parents in Washington DC he's a top student and a track star at his prestigious private high school. Bound for Harvard his prospects are bright. But Niru has a painful secret: he is queer - an abominable sin to his conservative Nigerian parents. No one knows except his best friend Meredith - the one person who seems not to judge him.

When his father accidentally finds out the fallout is brutal and swift. Coping with troubles of her own however Meredith finds that she has little left emotionally to offer him. As the two friends struggle to reconcile their desires against the expectations and institutions that seek to define them they find themselves speeding towards a future more violent and senseless than they can imagine. Neither will escape unscathed.

Speak No Evil is a novel about the power of words and self-identification about who gets to speak and who has the power to speak for other people.

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