Weep Not, Child - Paperback

by Ngugi Wa Thiong'o (Author), Ben Okri (Introduction by), Chinua Achebe (Editor)

The Nobel Prize-nominated Kenyan writer's powerful first novel

Two brothers, Njoroge and Kamau, stand on a garbage heap and look into their futures: Njoroge is to attend school, while Kamau will train to be a carpenter. But this is Kenya, and the times are against them: In the forests, the Mau Mau is waging war against the white government, and the two brothers and their family need to decide where their loyalties lie. For the practical Kamau, the choice is simple, but for Njoroge the scholar, the dream of progress through learning is a hard one to give up.

The first East African novel published in English, Weep Not, Child explores the effects of the infamous Mau Mau uprising on the lives of ordinary men and women, and on one family in particular.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

Author Biography

Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o (1938-2025) was an award-winning novelist, playwright, and essayist from Kenya whose novels have been translated into more than thirty languages. In addition to Weep Not, Child, his novels A Grain of Wheat, Petals of Blood, The River Between, and Devil on the Cross are available from Penguin Classics.

Ben Okri (introduction) won the Booker Prize in 1991 for his novel The Famished Road. He was born in Lagos, Nigeria, and lives in London.