The release date for the English version of 'How Beautiful We Were' by
Imbolo Mbue is Feb 2022. If you enjoy this novel, it is available for buy as a paperback from Barnes & Noble or Indigo, as an ebook on the Amazon Kindle store, or as an audiobook on Audible.
In this expansive, inspirational book from the New York Times bestselling author of Behold the Dreamers, a brave young lady from a tiny African town launches a revolt against an American oil business.
SELECTED BY The Washington Post, Kirkus Reviews, Marie Claire, and Esquire as ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR
We ought to have recognized it was almost over. This is how How Beautiful We Were, the stirring second book by Imbolo Mbue, opens.
The story, which takes place in the made-up African community of Kosawa, depicts a people who are afraid of their surroundings because an American oil firm is destroying them. Farmlands are no longer productive due to pipeline leaks. Youngsters who drink contaminated water are dying. The locals are promised cleaning and monetary restitution, but these promises are broken. The administration of the nation, run by an ostentatious autocrat, exists only to further its own agenda. With no other options, the Kosawa people choose to retaliate. Their battle will cost them dearly and last for decades.
How Beautiful We Were is a masterful examination of what happens when the reckless drive for profit, combined with the ghost of colonialism, comes up against one community's determination to hold on to its ancestral land and a young woman's willingness to sacrifice everything for the sake of her people's freedom. The story is told from the perspectives of a generation of children and the family of a girl named Thula who grows up to become a revolutionary.