Songs of enchantment Famished road series, book 2

One great thought can change the dreams of the world. One great action, lived out all the way to the sea, can change the history of the world. The adventures of Azaro, the spirit child, continue. From the bestselling author of The Famished Road comes this radiant sequel. Ben Okri, winner of the 1991 Booker Prize for The Famished Road, now gives us Songs of Enchantment, and it is hard to imagine a more gloriously written novel. Azaro, the spririt-child, is a reluctant traveler in the realities of this world. In this moving story of love and transformation, his adventures begin with the disruption of his family. Under the pressure of poverty and myth, his mother departs to follow the legendary Madame Koto. An obsession for a beautiful beggar girl snares forbidden visions. Set in an age of enchantments, their story takes place among the upheavals of a nation struggling to be born. There are mass political hallucinations, battles of contending forces in the realm of dreams, mysterious disappearances, and the rise of the Jackal-headed Masquerade The second book in the trilogy which began with the Booker prize-winning The Famished Road. 'A love story and an account of the conflict between the parties of the Rich and Poor... Okri's voice is all his own' Independent Having outwitted death, Azaro, the spirit child, remains in the land of the Living. Oppression and violence continue to plague the city, and while political factions battle, bar owner Madame Koto backs the 'Party of the Rich' with magical, bewitching force. But for Azaro, his adventure is tied up with his parents, and so his story takes on yet another heroic adventure to save them both from the forces of the world. 'Ben Okri writes beautifully...a triumph of inspiration over the everyday' The Times

The adventures of Azaro, the spirit child, continue in this radiant sequel to The Famished Road.

In this remarkable sequel to his Booker Prize-winning novel The Famished Road, Okri continues the story of the spirit-child who is a reluctant but keen observer of his family's turmoil and the political convulsions of a struggling new Africa. Through his shimmering consciousness and hallucinatory visions, the boy finds the strength to survive.

With humor and wisdom, Ben Okri tells of Azaro's father and how, drawing on the magic of courage, he undergoes the great penance of love. Through the experiences of this unique family we see that life lived with compassion and fire and serenity can vanquish the forces of oppression, and counter the darkness with light. At the end of the absorbing novel we feel it to be true when Azaro's father says, "Stories can conquer fear, you know. They can make the heart bigger."