The award-winning author of Voice of America paints a vivid, fully
imagined portrait of an extraordinary African family and the house that
holds them together.
A powerful tale of family and community, This House Is Not for Sale
brings to life an African neighborhood and one remarkable house, seen
through the eyes of a young member of the household. The house lies in a
town seemingly lost in time, full of colorful, larger-than-life
characters; at the narrative's heart are Grandpa, the family patriarch
whose occasional cruelty is balanced by his willingness to open his
doors to those in need, and the house itself, which becomes a character
in its own right and takes on the scale of legend.
From the decades-long rivalry between owners of two competing
convenience stores to the man who convinces his neighbors to give up
their earthly possessions to prepare for the end of the world, Osondu's
story captures a place beyond the reach of the outside world, full of
superstitions and myths that sustain its people.
Osondu's prose has the lightness and magic of fable, but his
themes--poverty, disease, the arrival of civilization in an isolated
community--are timeless and profound. At once full of joyful energy and
quiet heartbreak, This House Is Not for Sale is an utterly original
novel from a master storyteller.
