Girl: A Novel

I was a girl once, but not anymore.

So begins Girl, Edna O’Brien’s harrowing portrayal of the young women abducted by Boko Haram. Set in the deep countryside of northeast Nigeria, this is a brutal story of incarceration, horror, and hunger; a hair-raising escape into the manifold terrors of the forest; and a descent into the labyrinthine bureaucracy and hostility awaiting a victim who returns home with a child blighted by enemy blood. From one of the century’s greatest living authors, Girl is an unforgettable story of one victim’s astonishing survival, and her unflinching faith in the redemption of the human heart.

“The rhythm of Girl is intermittent and fearsomely strong; reading this novel is like riding the rapids . . . O’Brien’s understanding of, and sympathy for, girls in trouble transcends culture.” —Terrence Rafferty, The Atlantic

“A masterpiece, a heart-wrenching story of loss and redemption powerfully rendered in O’Brien’s singular voice, which is at once fierce and tender, conscientious and visionary.” —The Irish Times

“Throughout her long career, Edna O’Brien has proved to be an exceptionally brave writer, resolved to tell the truth, loyal to nothing except her memory, her imagination and her faith in the power and beauty of language . . . It’s a tribute to O’Brien’s skill as a writer—her ability to inhabit the minds of her characters and to craft virtuosic sentences—that Girl is immensely painful to read.” —Francine Pose, New York Times Book Review