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Aissa Saved
Joyce Cary

Aissa Saved

The first of Cary’s African novels. Aissa, a frank and lively Fulani girl, lives in the district of Yanrin, Nigeria. A new and ardent convert to Christianity, she is feared and mistrusted by the local community who brand her a witch. Yanrun is suffering a severe and prolonged drought and rioting breaks out between the different religious communities over whose God has the power to bring rain. Aissa is torn between her Christian faith and deep respect for her people and their ways. The clash is finally resolved in a moment of great passion, sacrifice and triumph. Written with great power and psychological insight, the novel gives a fascinating picture of the native mind with its superstition and cruel logic.

Book Details:

  • Author: Joyce Cary
  • Published Year: 1932
  • Rights Sold
    • UK: Stratus
Joyce Cary

Joyce Cary

Joyce Cary was born in 1888 into an old Anglo-Irish family and educated at Clifton. He studied art, first in Edinburgh and then in Paris , before going up to Trinity College, Oxford, in 1909 to read law. On coming down he served as a Red Cross orderly in the Balkan War of 1912-13,the inspiration for Memoir of the Bobotes , before joining the Nigerian Political Service. He served in the Nigeria Regiment during the First World War, was wounded while fighting in the Cameroons, and returned to civil duty in Nigeria in 1917 as a district officer. His time in Africa provided the inspiration for h...
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Book Reviews

  • "A most convincing, exciting and disturbing story."
    Observer
  • "Written with a detachment, and a refusal to take sides which make it doubly impressive."
    Spectator
  • "He writes so well, with such a fine understanding."
    Daily Telegraph