Oil on Water: A Novel

€œThe new generation of twenty-first-century African writers have now come of age. Without a doubt Habila is one of the best.€€•Emmanuel Dongala

In the oil-rich and environmentally devastated Nigerian Delta, the wife of a British oil executive has been kidnapped. Two journalistsۥa young upstart, Rufus, and a once-great, now disillusioned veteran, Zaqۥare sent to find her. In a story rich with atmosphere and taut with suspense, Oil on Water explores the conflict between idealism and cynical disillusionment in a journey full of danger and unintended consequences.

As Rufus and Zaq navigate polluted rivers flanked by exploded and dormant oil wells, in search of €œthe white woman,€ they must contend with the brutality of both government soldiers and militants. Assailed by irresolvable versions of the €œtruth€ about the woman€s disappearance, dependent on the kindness of strangers of unknowable loyalties, their journalistic objectivity will prove unsustainable, but other values might yet salvage their human dignity.