DEVIL ON THE CROSS by Ngūgī wa Thiong'o
Ngūgī wa Thiong'o wrote this book while in detention, without trial, by a government hoping to silence him. This novel is one of the most powerful critiques of modern Kenya ever written!
It tells the tragic story of Wariinga, a young woman who moves from a rural Kenyan town to the capital, Nairobi, only to be exploited by her boss and later by a corrupt businessman. As she struggles to survive, Wariinga begins to realize that her problems are only symptoms of a larger societal malaise and that much of the misfortune stems from the Western, capitalist influences on her country. An impassioned cry for a Kenya free of dictatorship and for African writers to work in their own local dialects, Devil on the Cross has had a profound influence on Africa and on post-colonial African literature.
This book was originally published in Ngūgī wa Thiong'o's native gīī-gīkūyū tongue by the title 'Caitani Mūtharaba-inī',