Chinua Achebe’s Book In hHgh Demand

[Shola Sholaz]

The late Chinua Achebe's novel "There was a country'' has been recording high sales in Enugu State since his demise on March 22.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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"I have never made such sales on a book like that before,'' he said.
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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.
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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.
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"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.
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Another buyer, Mr Chijioke Ibe, said that he bought the book because people had talked much about it.