The River Between

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Ngugi's novel tells the story of life in the Kenyan highlands during a time when colonial conquest loomed as a threatening shadow. Waiyaki grows up in the traditional Gikuyu community and is initiated by his father as a spiritual leader and renewer of his people. He attends a Christian mission school, but when he falls in love with a girl from a neighboring Christianized village, a tragic and inescapable conflict arises. Waiyaki, who refuses to convert, seeks to impart the knowledge of the colonizers in an independent Gikuyu school for the benefit of his people. Caught between these worlds, he becomes a victim of the fragmentation that continues to characterize modern Africa. This novel approaches the beauty and simplicity of ancient folk tales.