Oil on Water

In the oil-rich and environmentally devestated Nigerian Delta, a British oil executive's wife has been kidnapped. Two journalists - a young upstart, Rufus, and a once-great, now disillusioned veteran, Zaq - are 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 they navigate polluted rivers flanked by exploded and dormant oil wells, they must contentd with the brutality of both government soldiers and militants. Assailed by irresolvable versions of the 'truth' about the woman's disappearance, dependant on the kindness of strangers of unknowable loyalties, their journalistic objectivity will prove unsustainable, but other values might yet salvage their human dignity.

Helon Habila is the internationally renowned author of Waiting for an Angel, which won both the Commonwealth Writers Prize and the Caine Prize for African Writing, and Measuring Time and Oil on Water. He was born in Nigeria, and studied at the University of Jos and the University of East Anglia. He now teaches creative writing at George Mason University in Fairfax, VA, where he lives with his wife and children.