Achebe’s “There was a country’’ in high demand

Written by NAN

The late Chinua Achebe’s book “There was a country’’ has been recording high sales in Enugu State since his demise on March 22.

Checks in Enugu on Tuesday showed that the paper cover of the book was now being hawked on major streets of the state capital at a price of between N1, 500 and N2, 500, respectively.

Some of the hawkers, who spoke to reporters said that they had been making brisk business on the book since the demise of the literary icon last month.

According to one of the hawkers, Joseph Ibekwe, “I sell between 15 and 30 copies of the book a day at the cost of between N1,500 and N2,500, depending on the bargain with the buyer.

“I have never made such sales on a book like that before,’’ he said.

On why he was not selling other books written by the author, Joseph said that it was the only one on high demand by the people.

One of the buyers, Mr Chris Odo, a civil servant said he bought the book because it was the most recent of Achebe’s book before his death.

“I have read some of his books like `Things Fall Apart’ and `Arrow of God’ but I have not read this one which is his recent novel on Nigeria’s civil war,’’ he said.

Another buyer, Mr Chijioke Ibe, said that he bought the book because people had talked much about it.

“I am not really into reading novels but because of the way people are talking about the book I decided to buy it,’’ he said. (NAN)