Beyond communication, the Igbo language remains the primary tool ofaccess and the bedrock of Igbo culture, Igbo literature, complexknowledge systems and identity. In 2006, the United Nationspredicted the death of some Indigenous languages (the Igbo languageincluded) in 50 years due to a decline in usage. Confronted with themuted treatment of the Igbo novel and loss of Igbo language, ErnestEmenyonu in The Literary History of the IgboNovel: African Literature in African Languages,intervenes in this lacuna by examining the evolution, features,themes and the genealogy of the Igbo novel from 1857 to 2015.Significantly, the author's interest in the historical environmentof the colonial era, the influence of Igbo worldview and knowledgesystems first encoded in oral traditions and later transferred tothe written form contributes to Igbo language studies, use andpreservation. By tracing Igbo literary origins to diverse oralperformances, the author anchors written Igbo literature on oralliterature as an entity that existed before Western ideals ofwriting and Igbo orthography.

The author opens with a concise definition of the Igbo novel as anovel written in the Igbo language. Aside from prioritizing thelanguage of expression, Emenyonu clarifies that such works‘organically grew out of Igbo oral tradition, depicting wholly andentirely Igbo worldview narrated in the skilled manner of Igboorators’ (3). Having encountered more than 120 Igbo novels, 50plays, and over 24 scores of Igbo short stories collections,numerous memoirs, speeches and songs in Igbo Indigenous language inthe course of the research, the author notes that it is imperativeto study the evolution of the Igbo novel to probe its uniqueaesthetics and lineages. With the lingering threat of the loss ofthe Igbo language, a study of this magnitude opens up necessaryconversations about African Indigenous language preservation andresurgence. And across each of its well-researched chapters, whatcomes through is the power of Igbo literature to sustain thepeople's cultural ethos and rekindle waning interest in Indigenouslanguages, worldviews, knowledge systems, and art forms.

Beyond celebrating the ground-breaking endeavours of Igbo novelistssuch as Tony Uchenna Ubesie, J.U.T. Nzeako, Chinedum Ofomatas andothers, the author delves into their unique character portrayal,language sensitivity, and style.