Purple Hibiscus

15-year-old Kambili and her older brother Jaja attend an exclusive missionary school in a beautiful house. They live in Enugu, Nigeria, and they both have caring parents who are completely shielded from the troubles of the world. Yet things are less than perfect than they appear, as Kambili reveals in her tender voiced account. Although her Papa is generous and well respected, he is fanatically religious and tyrannical at home—a home that is silent and suffocating. As the country begins to fall apart under a military coup, Kambili and Jaja are sent to their aunt, a university professor outside the city, where they discover a life beyond the confines of their father’s authority. Books cram the shelves, curry, and nutmeg permeate the air, and their cousins' laughter rings throughout the house. When they return home, tensions within their family escalate. "