The Thing Around Your Neck

A brilliant collection of short stories in from Orange-Prize winner Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, the author of Purple Hibiscus and Half of a Yellow Sun. Adichie straddles the cultures of Nigeria and the West. Her characters battle with the responsibilities of modern life, a world in which identity is too often compromised. These are the stories of one of the most exciting voices writing in English today.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie was born in Nigeria in 1977. Her first novel 'Purple Hibiscus' was published in 2003 and was longlisted for the Booker Prize. Her second novel 'Half of a Yellow Sun' won the 2007 Orange Prize for Fiction. Her short story collection, 'The Thing Around Your Neck', was published to critical acclaim in 2009. Her work has been selected by the Commonwealth Broadcasting Association and the BBC Short Story Awards, has appeared in various literary publications, including Zoetrope and The Iowa Review. She won a MacArthur 'genius' grant in 2009, and in 2010 appeared on the New Yorker's list of the best 20 writers under 40. Her third novel, 'Americanah', was published to widespread critical acclaim in 2013. She lives in Nigeria.

'"The Thing Around your Neck", with its warm and sympathetic heroines and its finely cadenced un-American English prose, demonstrates that she is keeping faith with her talent and with her country.' Lindsay Duguid, Sunday Times 'Her particular gift is the seductive ability to tell a story...Adichie writes with an economy and precision that makes the strange seem familiar. She makes storytelling seem as easy as birdsong.' Jane Shilling, Telegraph 'Adichie's spare, poised prose, the coolness of her phrasing, ensures these scenes are achieved without melodrama. And though she writes very specifically about Nigeria, the stories have a universal application.' FT 'An elegant collection. From beginning to end the prose is serene and the characterization deft.' TLS 'The powerful themes close to Adichie's heart shine through, but never over-shadow writing of clarity and brilliance.' Aminatta Forna, Guardian