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W. W. Norton & Company
May 2011
On Sale: May 16, 2011
239 pages ISBN: 0393339645 EAN: 9780393339642 Paperback
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Fiction
“The new generation of twenty-first-century African writers
have now come of age. Without a doubt Habila is one of the
best.”—Emmanuel Dongala
In the oil-rich and environmentally devastated Nigerian
Delta, the wife of a British oil executive has been
kidnapped. Two journalists—a young upstart, Rufus, and a
once-great, now disillusioned veteran, Zaq—are sent to find
her. In a story rich with atmosphere and taut with suspense,
Oil on Water explores the conflict between idealism and
cynical disillusionment in a journey full of danger and
unintended consequences. As Rufus and Zaq navigate polluted rivers flanked by
exploded and dormant oil wells, in search of “the white
woman,” they must contend with the brutality of both
government soldiers and militants. Assailed by irresolvable
versions of the “truth” about the woman’s disappearance,
dependent on the kindness of strangers of unknowable
loyalties, their journalistic objectivity will prove
unsustainable, but other values might yet salvage their
human dignity.
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