Hayley Recommends: What I Read Over Lockdown 2.0

Purple Hibiscus – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Set in Nigeria during a military coup, the novel follows fifteen-year-old Kambili and her older brother Jaja as they leave their privileged life in Enugu to live with their Aunt and cousins. In their house in Enugu they want for nothing, and attend an exclusive missionary school, but their tyrannical religious father keeps them shielded from the world. Living with their Aunt, they are able to explore expression and freedom, and begin to learn what it means to be a part of a family, rather than to simply belong to one. Throughout the novel Adichie explores the effects of colonialism on religion and family, and how wider political instability can affect everyday life. There are many tender and beautiful points throughout the novel and many places that felt so tense I couldn’t put it down.

Strangers: Essays on the Human and Nonhuman – Rebecca Tamás

‘Strangers’ is a collection of short essays on the environment, hospitality, pain and more, looking at the intersections of politics, philosophy and environmentalism. The main focus of the essays are how we interact with each other and the environment, and how our relationship with one can inform our relationship with the other. A consistent point throughout each essay suggests that we should examine our relationship to things we consider ‘nonhuman’, such as animals and plants, and use this to address how we treat each other and the environment. Tamás begins each section focusing on a single phenomenon such as the ‘green man’ found in places of worship across the world, or a particular movement in history such as the ‘True Levellers’ who began a brief colony near Cobham, Surrey in 1649. This provides an engaging jumping off point for her wider argument, which I really enjoyed. I think this collection would be great for anyone who is interested in philosophy or environmentalism.