How Beautiful We Were

A PEN/FAULKNER AWARD FINALIST''Sweeping and quietly devastating'' New York Times''A David and Goliath story for our times'' O the Oprah MagazineSet in the fictional African village of Kosawa this is the story of a people living in fear amidst environmental degradation wrought by an American oil company. Pipeline spills have rendered farmlands infertile. Children are dying from drinking toxic water. Promises of clean-up and financial reparations are made - and broken. Left with few choices the people of Kosawa decide to fight back. But it will come at a steep price - one which generation after generation will have to pay.How Beautiful We Were is a masterful exploration of what happens when the reckless drive for profit coupled with the ghost of colonialism comes up against one community''s determination to hold onto its ancestral land and a young woman''s willingness to sacrifice everything for the sake of her people''s freedom.