Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie · 2013 · global

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's 2013 novel of the Nigerian diaspora across three continents. Ifemelu and Obinze fall in love as teenagers in Lagos and are parted when she leaves for America and he, shut out after 9/11, for an undocumented life in London. Over fifteen years apart she becomes a sharp-eyed blogger on American race, and he, deported home, a wealthy Lagos developer, until both find their way back to Nigeria, and to each other. A love story and a piercing anatomy of race, belonging and return.

1. 1
   Lagos

   In military-ruled Lagos the teenage lovers Ifemelu and Obinze dream of the West; Ifemelu wins a place at an American university and leaves.

2. 2
   London

   Obinze, refused a US visa after 9/11, plunges instead into an undocumented life in London, working under a borrowed name until he is caught and deported.

3. 3
   Philadelphia

   Ifemelu arrives to study in America, and discovers for the first time, in Philadelphia and Baltimore, what it means to be Black.

4. 4
   Princeton

   Years later, a celebrated blogger on race and a fellow at Princeton, with a green card and a good life, she is overtaken by an inexplicable homesickness.

5. 5
   Lagos

   And both return to a newly democratic, oil-rich Lagos, an Americanah and a self-made man, to see whether the love they began can begin again.