It’s the first Goodreads Monday of 2020, friends! This weekly meme was started by @Lauren’s Page Turners and it invites you to pick a book from your TBR and explain why you want to read it. Easy enough, right? Feel free to join in if you want to! I’ll be using a random number generator to pick my books from my insanely long GR Want-to-read list.

This week’s book is Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. This historical fiction has a 4.17 star average with 61k+ ratings and 5.5k+ reviews.

Fifteen-year-old Kambili and her older brother Jaja lead a privileged life in Enugu, Nigeria. They live in a beautiful house, with a caring family, and attend an exclusive missionary school. They’re completely shielded from the troubles of the world. Yet, as Kambili reveals in her tender-voiced account, things are less perfect than they appear. Although her Papa is generous and well respected, he is fanatically religious and tyrannical at home—a home that is silent and suffocating.

As the country begins to fall apart under a military coup, Kambili and Jaja are sent to their aunt, a university professor outside the city, where they discover a life beyond the confines of their father’s authority. Books cram the shelves, curry and nutmeg permeate the air, and their cousins’ laughter rings throughout the house. When they return home, tensions within the family escalate, and Kambili must find the strength to keep her loved ones together.

Purple Hibiscus is an exquisite novel about the emotional turmoil of adolescence, the powerful bonds of family, and the bright promise of freedom.

Why do I want to read it?

I haven’t read anything by Adichie yet although I know her books have received a lot of praise! Several years ago I tried reading her book Americanah and didn’t make it very far through the book. I’m 100% sure it was wrong timing and I was not in the right head space to read it so I quickly put it down. I have a feeling that I will enjoy her writing though so I’m really looking forward to giving her books a try!

Have you read Purple Hibiscus or is it on your TBR?