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Rose and the Burma Sky is a historical fiction novel about a young Igbo man who joins the army to impress the woman he loves and earn her respect. Set mainly during the Second World War that lasted about 6 years, the story is narrated from Obi’s perspective and details his experience before, during, and after that time. Published in February 2023, it is the author’s second book.
The story begins with a prologue at the end of which, Obi is lying on the floor in the jungle, possibly bleeding out. There are others lying dead around him. He contemplates his life, how he even got there in the first place. Was it even worth it? He has just been shot in the back after trying to avenge his friend’s death.
“When I started this journey I was young, full of hope, even promise. Rose once called me green. My sweet, dear Rose.”
Obi is 8 years old when his mother, a woman who is said to have come from a long line of fighters, dies in the Aba riot in 1929, some 10 years before the war begins. They had gone to protest the threat of higher taxes and everything descended into chaos. Life somewhat continued the best it could, with his grandmother moving in with them to help care for him and his brothers.
Life is simple for Obi and his friends. They attend the school run by missionaries in their village, work on their family farms, pluck fruits from the trees and play football. Until they start to disperse, one after the other, leaving the village in search of better opportunities than their village could offer.
Coming from a rather poor family and not being smart enough to be granted a scholarship, Obi settles into life without his friends, working on the farm and helping out at the local primary school, teaching English to the younger children. Even his sweet, dear Rose goes to school in Lagos and with each holiday, she seems different, not the girl he knows but still his love for her remains unshaken.
One fateful day, Obi and one of his friends, Emeka watch a drill by the soldiers. Although he does not like the idea of fighting, he thinks about the pay and that there is peace at the moment with no wars to fight, he signs up the following day. On the bright side, though, being at the army barracks in Enugu helps him build a relationship with his father, whom he often goes to see at the mines.
When Rose falls pregnant, Obi finally summons the courage to talk to Rose about his feelings, and the possibility of marrying her but he gets the shock of his life. She laughs at him, asking if he seriously thinks her family would consider him, seeing that he did not look like he could “rub two guineas together.” He then backtracks and says he’s only trying to offer her a solution to her problem. He, however, leaves that conversation determined to become a man worthy of her.
“For the first time I saw myself the way she saw me and didn’t like the reflection, didn’t like the fact that in her eyes I was a joke.”
As with Tayo in Sarah Ladipo Manyinka’s In Dependence and Charles on The Crown, Obi could not imagine a life where he wasn’t with the woman he loved dearly. They eventually get married but it’s nothing like Obi imagined, as it is all an arrangement to Rose, an escape from the shame she would have faced.
Obi continues living in the army barracks, visiting home when he could. He becomes involved in training new recruits when the war breaks out and performing clerical duties for the colonial officers. When Rose has their baby and returns to Lagos to work as a nurse some weeks later, they begin to exchange letters. At first, he’s reluctant to write back but he later gives in and even sends her pictures of Little Rose.
About 2 years into the war, Obi is among the soldiers shipped out to Burma to fight. For King and Country, they said. However, when the war ends, the soldiers who return find out that the gratuities and pensions they were promised was all a ruse. There’s also no support for them whatsoever. With this they begin to fight for Nigeria’s independence from colonial rule and they eventually succeed 15 years after the war.
Obi survives the war, by some stroke of luck but he is unsure how to fit into the life he left behind when he left for war. He had become a killer of men and could no longer feel. He lost so much along the way and in the end, we see him telling his daughter, Little Rose, not to forget the soldiers and their contribution.
“That is the thing with the past: you have to see it from different perspectives, from different viewpoints, to truly see the people you really were, to understand and learn what needs to be learnt.”
In a way, I feel the words in the final paragraph are for every reader. Stories like this, no matter how heavy, have to be told. Although the author’s craftmanship is rather exceptional, I struggled a bit with the swinging plot in some parts. That aside, it’s an important perspective of colonialism, one of regular people shared in very relatable way. This is a book I recommend.
Have you read this book? What did you think about it? Kindly leave a comment.
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