by Buchi Emecheta

Florence Onyebuchi (“Buchi”) Emecheta was born in Lagos, Nigeria, in 1944. Her childhood was divided between the large city of Lagos in southwestern Nigeria and the town of Ibuza in south-central Nigeria. She attended Christian schools, including the Methodist Girls’ High School in Lagos, and after marrying Sylvester Onwordi in 1960 she worked briefly at the U.S. Embassy there. Two years later she moved to London with her two children to join her husband who had emigrated there to pursue his studies. After separating from her husband in 1966, Emecheta struggled to support herself and her now five children while continuing her college education and fiction writing. In 1972 she published an autobiographical novel, In the Ditch, and two years later received a bachelor’s degree in sociology from the University of London. Emecheta wrote three more novels and two teleplays before...