Elechi Amadi\u27s new novel concerns the disruption of lives, traditions, and institutions caused by the Nigerian Civil War and modern society\u27s emphasis on individualism. The novel opens in Port Harcout [Harcourt] - Amadi\u27s own native surroundings-in 1970, at the end of the Biafran conflict. The principal character, Alekiri, has had a child by her Hausa soldier lover, Major Sule Dansuku, who had rescued her from the war front, where she had become separated from her husband, Ibekwe, and daughter. This imminent return of her husband to whom she remains married and the impending conflict of custom (Ibekwe\u27 s duty to reconciliate along with accepting the new child) creates anxiety in the cast of characters
