Set in an unnamed African country at an unspecified time (though the similarities with Nigeria in the early 1960s are unmistakable), The Famished Road is narrated by Azaro, an African spirit-child or abiku who, in the folklore of southern Nigeria, is destined to move continually between life and spiritual paradise in an unending cycle of infant death and rebirth. Azaro, however, is tired of never staying long enough to experience life, and decides on this occasion to remain, "to put", he says, "a smile on my mother's face".

Pursued by vengeful spirits, and endowed with special powers that lead him into mischief, Azaro introduces us to a whole world of wonders -- to his mother and father, an impoverished market trader and a load carrier struggling courageously to keep their dignity and their independence; to Madame Koto, the local bar owner whose journey from innocence to corruption mirrors the realities unfolding around her; to the politics, poverty and brutal reality of life in a shanty town in post-colonial Africa; and to Azaro's own intensely imagined visions. As political corruption becomes endemic and as old tribal traditions clash with the forces of urbanisation, the author shows us the extraordinary mix of hope and despair that characterises his community and the sheer vitality of a society where, as Okri has said, "the consequences of your actions are immediate and unavoidable".

Deftly mixing mythical visions with naturalistic portrayal, the result is a book of huge scope and originality which works on many levels -- as political parable, social critique, cultural guidebook and spiritual inspiration -- but whose central triumph is its depiction of tight-knit family relations and the entrancing oddity of everyday life.

本·奧剋瑞1959年生於非洲西部國傢尼日利亞。他幼年在倫敦度過，並就讀於當地小學，七歲隨父迴到尼日利亞。中學畢業後，奧剋瑞在一傢塗料店做店員，十八歲移居英格蘭，在艾賽剋斯大學(EssexUniversity)研修比較文學。十九歲時即已寫齣第一部長篇小說《鮮花與陰影》。由於生活窘迫，他未能讀完大學。但他自幼深受非洲民間敘事傳統的熏陶，閱讀麵十分廣泛，並通過小說創作嚮世人展示瞭傑齣的文學纔華。他的代錶作包括《飢餓的路》(1991年)、《非洲挽歌》(1992年)、《迷魂之歌》(1993年)、《神靈為之驚異》(1995年)、《危險的愛》(1996年)等。其中《飢餓的路》於1991年獲英國最具權威的文學奬——布剋奬。此外，奧剋瑞還撰寫瞭許多文論和大量短篇小說。他榮膺多個文學奬項，近年來在世界文壇備受矚目。他目前作為訪問作傢(VisitingWriter-in-residence)客居於劍橋的三靈學院(TrinityGllege)。