Waiting for an Angel

Item: Waiting for an Angel
Author: WhichBook

Helon Habila

A must-read - despite the concentration needed as Lomba's story is told through both his own eyes and those of his friends. The background of the brutal Nigerian military regime makes for inevitable sadness, but there is humour in the book too, and above all a feeling that the human spirit can survive the most dreadful experiences.

Extract

For the one week that the curfew lasted Poverty Street became a ghost town - the shops remained closed, even the schools and the Women Centre did not open. But a lot of people had reasons for remaining indoors: almost every house had one or more persons nursing a wound or a fracture sustained during the demonstration. Two people apart from Hagar died: Michael, my friend, who was also knocked down by a car and Eniola, a pregnant asthmatic who was asphyxiated by tear gas.

Parallels