Later, he realised that Odenigbo did not intend to punch him, perhaps did not consider him worthy of a punch, and the thought had depressed him. Richard hurried to the window to see Odenigbo's car backing out, the same blue Opel that had parked in his own compound on Imoke Street before Odenigbo bounded out, a stocky man in well-ironed clothes shouting, 'I want you to stay away from my house! Do you understand me? Stay away! Don't ever come to my house again!' He had stood in front of the veranda and wondered if Odenigbo would punch him. 'It is stupid to expect me to forgive this.' There was a short silence and then the sound of the door being opened. Then Richard heard Kainene's voice, clear and crisp. Odenigbo spoke briefly, in a tone that was unusually calm. He heard Olanna's tearful voice but could not make out what she was saying. She asked Ikejide to serve drinks and went down to the living room and from the top of the stairs where he stood, Richard tried to hear what was said. The doorbell rang before noon and, when Ikejide came in to say the madam's sister was at the door, Richard thought that Kainene would ask him to shut the door in Olanna's face. 'We will talk when I want to talk, Richard.' He looked down, like a child being reprimanded, and felt, again, afraid that she would ask him to get out of her life forever. 'Can we speak, please?' She looked up, and he noticed, first, that her eyes were swollen and raw, and then he saw the wounded rage in them. Her silence and the noises and smells from the kitchen made him feel claustrophobic.

Richard sat opposite her, unsure of what to do, too guilty even to pour his tea. 'Harrison is making pancakes,' she said, and turned back to her paper. Kainene sat drinking a cup of tea and reading a newspaper with the light on. The rain was heavy on the roof and the overcast sky cast a pallor over the dining room. Extract 1 How does Adichie present the relationship between Richard and Kainene in this extract? Kainene greeted him with a stoic face in the morning. The novel tackles complex themes such as war, love, gender and status. Through this characters we view the period from the perspectives of the haves, the have nots and the outsiders. Set in 1960s Nigeria, we follow the interweaving stories of Ugwu (a village boy), Olanna (a member of the Nigerian elite) and Richard (an English writer/journalist) through the early days of post-colonial rule and into the harrowing Biafran war.

Chimamanda ngozi adichie yellow sun