Arrow of God, published in 1964, is the third novel by Chinua Achebe. Along with Things Fall Apart and No Longer at Ease, it is considered part of The African Trilogy, sharing similar settings and themes. The novel centres on Ezeulu, the chief priest of several Igbo villages in colonial Nigeria, who confronts colonial powers and Christian missionaries in the 1920s. The novel was published as part of the influential Heinemann African Writers Series.
First edition
Chinua Achebe was a Nigerian novelist, poet, and critic who is regarded as a central figure of modern African literature. His first novel and magnum opus, Things Fall Apart (1958), occupies a pivotal place in African literature and remains the most widely studied, translated, and read African novel. Along with Things Fall Apart, his No Longer at Ease (1960) and Arrow of God (1964) complete the "African Trilogy". Later novels include A Man of the People (1966) and Anthills of the Savannah (1987). In the West, Achebe is often referred to as the "father of African literature", although he vigorously rejected the characterization.
Achebe in Lagos, 1966
The Gate of the University of Ibadan, 2016
A spiral stack of the 1994 Anchor Books edition of Things Fall Apart
Achebe selected the novel Weep Not, Child by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o (pictured) as one of the first titles of Heinemann's African Writers Series.
