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Against the Odds
By Dr. Ben Igwe

Issued:   2008
Format:   Hardcover
ISBN:   097-908-583-7, 978-0-9790858-3-3

Price: $19.99 -

Undaunted by hardship, a determined widow, Uridiya, arranges a wife of her choice for her western-educated only son. Hardly did she know that her son, Jamike, had fallen in love and gone ahead to marry a foreigner against her wish and the expectations of his village and its
people. In a show of love, loyalty and commitment he rejects the arranged wife to the disappointment of his mother and the community. Can his defiance succeed against all odds?

Set in an Igbo village in Eastern Nigeria from the late 1950's to early 1970's and in the United States in the early 1970's, the author adroitly and sympathetically handles the powerlessness of the widow in rural
African societies and the generosity of the human heart in altruistic people who give so that individuals and society may benefit. It addresses with candor and sensitivity the problems of race, human sexuality, cultural disengagement and the role of love in blurring the 'color line.' Against the Odds is an evocative story with spellbound intensity.

About the author: Ben Igwe was born in Imo State, Nigeria. He was educated at universities in Nigeria and the United States. He holds a Ph.D. in Library and Information Science from the University of Maryland at College Park. He has taught in Universities in Nigeria and the United States. He is currently Chief of the division of philosophy, psychology and religion in the District of Columbia Public Library in Washington, D.C. He lives with his family in Adelphi, Maryland.

Against The Odds