Petals of Blood | Petals of Blood

At a glance:

Author: Ngugi wa Thiong'o
First Published: 1977
Type of Work: Social and political criticism
Time of Work: Modern Kenya in the 1970’s, about twelve years after independence.
Setting: The village of Ilmorog, Kenya
Principal Characters: Munira, Abdulla, Karega, Wanja, Inspector Godfrey, Chui
Genres: Long fiction, Social realism, Political fiction
Subjects: 1970’s, Africa or Africans, Power, personal or social, Race, Crime or criminals, Murder or homicide, Religion, Death or dying, Corruption, Progress, Modernization, Arson
Locales: Kenya

Petals of Blood is a novel of social and political criticism cast in the form of a crime story. Three directors of the local brewery in Ilmorog have died as a result of a fire. Arson is suspected, and the novel opens with the arrest of the four principal characters: Munira, the protagonist, headmaster of the school in Ilmorog; Karega, a teacher at the school; Abdulla, the owner of a local shop and bar; and Wanja, a young woman who works in Abdulla’s shop and who later becomes a prostitute.

Petals of Blood | Petals of Blood

At a glance:

The Novel

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