Half of a yellow sun / Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi

Biafra's struggle to establish an independent republic in southeastern Nigeria during the late 1960's sets the stage for the story that portrays the lives of five people caught up in this tumultuous decade.

The lives of Ugwu, a thirteen-year-old houseboy, Olanna, the mistress of the professor the boy works for, and Richard, a Englishman in love with the woman's sister, are endangered during the political unrest resulting from the forming of the independent nation of Biafra in Nigeria.