The Story Archive

Petals of Blood

Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o · 1977 CE · Novel · East African · Contemporary

Three directors of a Kenyan brewery die in a fire, and four residents of the drought-struck village of Ilmorog are held for questioning: a schoolteacher, a crippled shopkeeper, a barmaid and a union organiser. Their statements run back twelve years, through a delegation that walks to Nairobi to petition its MP. Ngugi's last novel in English, and the one that got him detained without charge.

Open Petals of Blood in the archive — filters, lineage graph and full facet browsing.

Lineage

Attributes

Genre
Theme
Archetype (Jung / Campbell)
Plot structure
Symbol / motif
Conflict
Mode / tone
Culture / tradition

Closest analogues