{"product_id":"how-beautiful-we-were-a-novel","title":"How Beautiful We Were: A Novel","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA fearless young woman from a small African village starts a revolution against an American oil company in this sweeping, inspiring novel from the \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eBehold the Dreamers\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times, People\u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003e-\u003c\/i\u003e ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Book Review, \u003c\/i\u003e \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Washington Post, \u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003eEsquire, Good Housekeeping, \u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003eThe Christian Science Monitor, Marie Claire\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eMs. \u003c\/i\u003emagazine, \u003ci\u003eBookPage, \u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Mbue reaches for the moon and, by the novel's end, has it firmly held in her hand.\"--NPR\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eWe should have known the end was near. \u003c\/i\u003eSo begins Imbolo Mbue's powerful second novel, \u003ci\u003eHow Beautiful We Were\u003c\/i\u003e. Set in the fictional African village of Kosawa, it tells of a people living in fear amid environmental degradation wrought by an American oil company. Pipeline spills have rendered farmlands infertile. Children are dying from drinking toxic water. Promises of cleanup and financial reparations to the villagers are made--and ignored. The country's government, led by a brazen dictator, exists to serve its own interests. Left with few choices, the people of Kosawa decide to fight back. Their struggle will last for decades and come at a steep price.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTold from the perspective of a generation of children and the family of a girl named Thula who grows up to become a revolutionary, \u003ci\u003eHow Beautiful We Were\u003c\/i\u003e is a masterful exploration of what happens when the reckless drive for profit, coupled with the ghost of colonialism, comes up against one community's determination to hold on to its ancestral land and a young woman's willingness to sacrifice everything for the sake of her people's freedom.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eImbolo Mbue\u003cbr\u003ePublisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks\u003cbr\u003eFebruary 2022\u003cbr\u003eEAN: 9780593132449\u003cbr\u003eISBN: 0593132440\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Call \u0026 Response Books","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":42715370815557,"sku":"9780593132449","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0647\/6621\/4213\/files\/81QIyxytpoL._SL1500.jpg?v=1746219695","url":"https:\/\/www.callandresponsechi.com\/products\/how-beautiful-we-were-a-novel","provider":"Call \u0026 Response Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}