Young and naive, Kathleen Hill moves to newly independent Nigeria with her husband to teach at Igbobi College. It is the early 1960s, and Hill is soon caught up in the swirl of the times: the legacy of colonialism, chaos back in America, and violence and racism across the globe that touch even the quiet school where she teaches English literature. As a way of steadying and finding herself in this new place, she begins reading Henry James's Portrait of a Lady, and there discovers disturbing resonances with her own life. Dedicated to Chinua Achebe, "Portrait" is a essay that pays homage to a vanished world and to the striking power of a novel, read at a particular moment, to illuminate the life of a reader.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kathleen Hill's novel Still Waters in Niger was nominated for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and named a Notable Book of the Year by The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Chicago Tribune; the French translation, Eaux Tranquilles, was shortlisted for the Prix Femina Étranger. Who Occupies This House, a second novel, was named an Editors' Choice at The New York Times. Her work has appeared in Best American Short Stories 2000, Pushcart Prize XXV, and The Pushcart Book of Short Stories. A short piece, "Forgiveness," was recently included in Best Spiritual Writing 2013.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kathleen Hill's novel Still Waters in Niger was nominated for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and named a Notable Book of the Year by The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Chicago Tribune; the French translation, Eaux Tranquilles, was shortlisted for the Prix Femina Étranger. Who Occupies This House, a second novel, was named an Editors' Choice at The New York Times. Her work has appeared in Best American Short Stories 2000, Pushcart Prize XXV, and The Pushcart Book of Short Stories. A short piece, "Forgiveness," was recently included in Best Spiritual Writing 2013.
