Girl

"I was a girl once, but not any more." So begins Girl, Edna O'Brien's harrowing portrayal of the young women abducted by Boko Haram. Set in the deep countryside of northeast Nigeria, this is a brutal story of incarceration, horror, and hunger; a hair-raising escape into the manifold terrors of the forest; and a descent into the labyrinthine bureaucracy and hostility awaiting a victim who returns home with a child blighted by enemy blood. From one of the century's greatest living authors, Girl is an unforgettable story of one victim's astonishing survival, and her unflinching faith in the redemption of the human heart. Northeast Nigeria. When a group of schoolgirls are abducted by Boko Haram, they are suffer incarceration, horror, and hunger. A hair-raising escape into the manifold terrors of the forest leads, not so much to freedom as to a descent into the labyrinthine bureaucracy and hostility awaiting a victim who returns home with a child blighted by enemy blood. Throughout her ordeal the narrator survives through her unflinching faith in the redemption of the human heart. -- adapted from jacket

The cheapest new copy of Girl is £8.99 at LoveReading; the cheapest used copy is €2.20 at Label Emmaüs. Prices checked 1 Nov 2026

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More by Edna O’Brien

More by Edna O’Brien