In the middle of the night on April 14, 2014, the terrorist group Boko Haram kidnapped more than two hundred girls from their school dormitory in Chibok, Nigeria. The abduction of the “Chibok girls” received worldwide media coverage, sparking a global Bring Back Our Girls campaign involving celebrities from Michelle Obama to Malala. So far, 107 of the Chibok girls have been found, rescued, or freed in negotiations between the Nigerian government and Boko Haram. More than one hundred remain missing.

Born, raised and residing in Nigeria, author Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani conducted countless interviews with the Chibok girls to write the poignant new novel, Buried Beneath the Baobab Tree. The book tells the story of a young Nigerian girl who dreams of a new pair of shoes, a university degree and a husband. But her dreams turn to nightmares when her village is attacked by the terrorist group Boko Haram. She is taken with other girls into the forest where she is forced to follow her captors’ radical beliefs and watch as her best friend slowly accepts everything she’s been told.