Beasts of No Nation

The harrowing, utterly original debut novel about the life of a child soldier in a war-torn African country—now a critically-acclaimed Netflix original film directed by Cary Fukunaga and starring Idris Elba.

"Remarkable. . . . Iweala never wavers from a gripping, pulsing narrative voice. . . . He captures the horror of ethnic violence in all its brutality and the vulnerability of youth in all its innocence." —Entertainment Weekly (A)

"This is one of those rare occasions when you see a first novel and you think, This guy is going to be very, very good." —Salman Rushdie

As civil war rages in an unnamed West-African nation, Agu, the school-aged protagonist of this stunning novel, is recruited into a unit of guerilla fighters. Haunted by his father's own death at the hands of militants, which he fled just before witnessing, Agu is vulnerable to the dangerous yet paternal nature of his new commander.

While the war rages on, Agu becomes increasingly divorced from the life he had known before the conflict started—a life of school friends, church services, and time with his family, still intact. As he vividly recalls these sunnier times, his daily reality continues to spin further downward into inexplicable brutality, primal fear, and loss of selfhood.

In a powerful, strikingly original voice, Uzodinma Iweala leads the reader through the random travels, betrayals, and violence that mark Agu's new community. Electrifying and engrossing, Beasts of No Nation announces the arrival of an extraordinary writer.

"An outstanding first novel. . . . Resonant, beautiful." —New York Times

"Readers will come away feeling shattered by this haunting, original story." —Booklist (starred review)

"A powerful new voice in fiction." —Bookmarks Magazine