This is a collection of short stories by Achebe, written over a number of years and gathered in 1972. Several are set during or around the Nigerian civil war, and they look at how conflict changes ordinary lives, relationships and moral choices. Others deal with the earlier years of colonial rule and with the tensions of modern Nigerian life.
The stories are brief, ironic and carefully observed. They show Achebe's skill at compressing large social questions into small human moments, and they offer a good introduction to his shorter fiction.
Quotes
They led and he followed blindly, his heavy chest heaving up and down in silent weeping ... it was the worst kind of madness, deep and tongue-tied.
We did not ask him for money yesterday; we shall not ask him tomorrow. But today is our day; we have climbed the iroko tree and would be foolish not to take down all the firewood we need.
I don't believe anybody will be so unlike other people that they will be unhappy when their sons are engaged to marry.
When suffering knocks at your door and you say there is no seat for him, he tells you not to worry because he has brought his own stool.