Cameroonian Writer, Imbolo Mbue tops Review Charts with “How Beautiful We Were”

A Cameroonian-born US-based writer, Imbolo Mbue is making news and topping review charts with the release of her second novel, “How Beautiful We Were”.

After the success of her first novel , “Behold the Dreamers” in 2016, the forty-year-old lady went back to focus on her second novel which she had begun writing 17 years ago.

About “How Beautiful We Were”

How Beautiful We Were,” is set in a fictional African village, Kosawa.

The residents fight back against a foreign oil company whose work is poisoning their land, air, rivers and children.

Thula is a young girl and protagonist of the story. She grows up to become a revolutionist and is willing to sacrifice everything for the sake of her people’s freedom.

The story is centred on the battle between the reckless drive for profit, the ghost of colonialism and one community’s determination to hold on to its ancestral land.

The book is a satire on the author’s town of birth where the locals, she explains, do not enjoy the benefits of having the oil company on their soil.

“It was an incredibly difficult book to write, because it’s very personal,” the author explained on the New York Times. She mentioned how she cried several times while writing the book.

About Imbolo Mbue

Imbolo Mbue was born in 1981 in Limbe, South West Region of Cameroon.

She is a novelist and short-story writer based in New York City.

Her works include “Behold the Dreamers” (2016) and “How Beautiful We Were” (2021).

She is married and a mother.

It is worth mentioning that Imbolo Mbue’s works are inspired by her experiences as an immigrant, and those of other immigrants pursuing the American dream.

Eleanor Ayuketah Ngochi

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