Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart (1959) depicts the village life of the Ibo clan of Nigeria before and after colonization. Like Nectar in a Sieve, it exposes both the pain these people suffered and the unity they felt by upholding age-old rituals and traditions.
Pearl S. Buck’s The Good Earth (1931) describes peasant life in China in the 1920s, and centers around traditional people devoted to land and family who struggle to maintain traditional culture.
Markandaya’s other novels, listed above, center on south Indian village life, the clash between Eastern and Western values, and the complex relationship between India and Britain.
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