Things Fall Apart

Okonkwo is a respected wrestler and farmer in the Igbo village of Umuofia, a man who has built his life on strength and on never resembling his gentle, indebted father. When an accident forces him into exile and he returns to find missionaries and a colonial administration taking root, his world, and his certainty, begin to give way. Achebe's first novel is one of the most widely read books by an African writer, and a cornerstone of any African literature shelf.