A Grain of Wheat

A Grain of Wheat

About the Book

Barack Obama, via Facebook: “A compelling story of how the transformative events of history weigh on individual lives and relationships.”

The Nobel Prize–nominated Kenyan writers best-known novel, featuring an introduction by Nobel Prize winner Abdulrazak Gurnah

Set in the wake of the Mau Mau rebellion and on the cusp of Kenya's independence from Britain, A Grain of Wheat follows a group of villagers whose lives have been transformed by the 1952–1960 Emergency. At the center of it all is the reticent Mugo, the village's chosen hero and a man haunted by a terrible secret. As we learn of the villagers' tangled histories in a narrative interwoven with myth and peppered with allusions to real-life leaders, including Jomo Kenyatta, a masterly story unfolds in which compromises are forced, friendships are betrayed, and loves are tested.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
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Praise for A Grain of Wheat

“One of the greatest writers of our time.” —Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, The Guardian

“His novels . . . have been deservedly canonized by the iconic [Penguin Classics] series.” —The Wall Street Journal
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Penguin African Writers Series

Devil on the Cross
The River Between
A Grain of Wheat
Weep Not, Child
Petals of Blood

About the Author

Ngugi wa Thiong'o
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o (1938–2025) was an award-winning novelist, playwright, and essayist from Kenya whose novels have been translated into more than thirty languages. More by Ngugi wa Thiong'o
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About the Author

Abdulrazak Gurnah
Abdulrazak Gurnah is the 2021 winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature. He is the author of ten previous novels, including Afterlives (named a 2022 Best Book of the Year by the New York Times, Washington Post, TIME, and The New Yorker), Paradise (shortlisted for the Booker Prize), By the Sea (longlisted for the Booker Prize and a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize), and Desertion. Born and raised in Zanzibar, he is Professor Emeritus of English and Postcolonial Literatures at the University of Kent. He lives in Canterbury, England. More by Abdulrazak Gurnah
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About the Author

Chinua Achebe
Chinua Achebe was born in Nigeria in 1930. His first novel, Things Falls Apart, became a classic of international literature and required reading for students worldwide. He also authored four subsequent novels, two short-story collections, and numerous other books. He was the David and Marianna Fisher University Professor and Professor of Africana Studies at Brown University and, for more than 15 years, was the Charles P. Stevenson Jr. Professor of Languages and Literature at Bard College. In 2007, Achebe was awarded the Man Booker International Prize for lifetime achievement. He died in 2013. More by Chinua Achebe
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