Publisher's abstract 1Africa, frightening and attractive... It ignited Jeffrey Allen's blood like a malarial fever. Bewitched his wife May. It became the forever lost homeland of their son Fintan. A vision, a dream that appeared to them on the banks of the Niger River, in the colonial outback of the tiny town of Onicha. Publisher's abstract 2 The first novel brought recognition to J. M. G. Leklezio. It was The Trial (1963), which won the Renaudo Prize. The writer received another prestigious award, the Paul Morand Prize, for “The Desert” (1980). And in 2008, Leclezio won the Nobel Prize in Literature. The novel “Onitsha” (1991) bears the reflection of childhood memories - about a trip to Nigeria to visit his father in 1948. Onitsha is a small port on the Niger River, the outskirts of the twilight British Empire. Jeffrey Allen is brought here by dreams of the distant past, his wife May is brought here by dreams of the future. The red land of Onitsha will become native to their son Fintan. Aliens to the colonial circle, petty, living with hatred, consumed by disappointment, they will merge with Africa, which burns like a mystery, like a fever. Furious and serene. About the author of this book (from the publisher) Jean-Marie Gustave Leclezio was born in Nice on April 13, 1940. His ancestors, immigrants from Brittany, emigrated to Mauritius in the 18th century. Traveling a lot, Leclezio did not stop writing from the age of seven or eight: poems, fairy tales, stories, stories. However, nothing he wrote was published until The Trial, his first novel, which appeared in September 1963 and was awarded the Renaudo Prize. Today the writer has about 30 books to his name. In 1980, the novel “The Desert” brought him the Paul Morand Prize, established by the French Academy. In 2008, Leclezio won the Nobel Prize in Literature.* * *Original title: J. M. G. LE CLÉZIO OnitshaTranslated from French by L. N. Efimov* * *The cover design uses the painting “Waterfall” by Henri Rousseau