Tiny Sunbirds Far Away: From the author of The Courage to Care and The Language of Kindness, winner of Costa First Novel Award

Christie Watson

Mar 2011 · Hachette UK

About this ebook

WINNER OF THE COSTA FIRST NOVEL AWARD, BY THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE LANGUAGE OF KINDNESS AND THE COURAGE TO CARE

'Everything changed after Mama found Father lying on top of another woman.'

Blessing and her brother Ezikiel adore their larger-than-life father, their glamorous mother and their comfortable life in Lagos. But all that changes when their father leaves them for another woman. Their mother is fired from her job at the Royal Imperial Hotel - only married women can work there - and soon they have to quit their air-conditioned apartment to go and live with their grandparents in a compound in the Niger Delta.

Adapting to life with a poor countryside family is a shock beyond measure after their privileged upbringing in Lagos. Told in Blessing's own beguiling voice, Tiny Sunbirds Far Away shows how some families can survive almost anything. At times hilarious, always poignant, occasionally tragic, it is peopled with characters you will never forget.

Ratings and reviews

Loved this book. I felt transported and could not stop reading. Great story-telling. Thank you Christie Watson x

could put it down. A shocking insight into social and racial differences and the injustices experienced in this system of things.

Emotional, colourful, educational

About the author

Christie Watson was a registered nurse for twenty years before writing full time. Her first novel, Tiny Sunbirds Far Away, won the Costa First Novel Award and her second novel, Where Women Are Kings, was also published to international critical acclaim. Her books have been translated into eighteen languages. The Language of Kindness, Christie's first work of narrative non-fiction, is forthcoming internationally.