Oil on Water

Description

'A lean, evocative novel - part thriller, part meditation on the deadly cost of the region's oil politics. A classic coming-of-age narrative' Daily Mail From the desks of Nigeria's newsrooms, two journalists are recruited to find the kidnapped wife of a British oil engineer. Zaq, an infamous and ageing hack, knows the score, but Rufus, who is keen, young and eager to get noticed, has no idea what he's let himself in for. Journeying into the oil-rich regions of the Niger Delta, where militants and corporations rule, and life is cheap but death even cheaper, Rufus uncovers a world far darker and more corrupt than he ever imagined. 'Habila's writing has that combination of elegance and rattling-good-yarn that we associate with Conrad and Graham Greene. Terrific' The Times 'Masterly. Draws on the tradition of the classic detective novel but also operates on a deeper, metaphorical and philosophical level. Habila has a filmic ability to etch scenes on the imagination' Independent 'A strange, almost hallucinatory plunge into the dangerous world of the Niger Delta' Metro 'Lays bare the real-life tragedy of the Niger delta, in which petrodollars warp human relationships as surely as leaking crude poisons birds and fish . . . powerful, accomplished' Observer 'Reads like a post-colonial riff on Conrad's Heart of Darkness' Financial Times

Helon Habila was born in Nigeria in 1967. He won the Caine Prize for African Writing 2001 for the opening section of his first book, Waiting for an Angel, which then went on to win the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best First Book, Africa Region, in 2003. His second book was called Measuring Time. He now divides his time between America and Nigeria.

Compassionate, emotive, masterly . . . draws on the tradition of the classic detective novel but also operates on a deeper, metaphorical and philosophical level * Independent * A lean, evocative novel - part thriller, part meditation on the deadly cost of the region's under-reported oil politics . . . a classic coming-of-age narrative * Daily Mail * Powerful, accomplished . . . Oil on Water lays bare the real-life tragedy of the Niger delta, in which petrodollars warp human relationships as surely as leaking crude poisons birds and fish * Observer * Habila's writing has that combination of elegance and rattling-good-yarn that we associate with Conrad and Graham Greene . . . Terrific * The Times * Habila is a master at evoking the plight of characters who ask for little, and end up with even less . . . this is a book you can't put down * Boston Globe * In a beautiful, almost cinematic style, Habila moves back and forth in time to tell a story swathed in the cynicism of modern global development and the mysteries of human longing * Booklist * This is a powerful novel that is both creepy and engaging * Bookseller *