In the Ditch

Striking . . . a world rarely brought to life on the page with the candor and intensity of firsthand experience . . . brings sexism and classism into equal focus

Lucy Scholes, The Paris Review

Sad, sonorous, occasionally hilarious, an extraordinary first novel

Adrianne Blue, The Washington Post

Bold, brave, defiant, and determined, Buchi Emecheta graced the world with her first novel in 1972

Eashani Chavda, gal-dem

Buchi Emecheta was evidently extraordinarily gifted as well as extremely determined... Adah's story is told with empathy and humour. This is about survival in the face of almost insurmountable odds... In The Ditch is [also] a powerful critique of a stigmatising system, rife with contradictions and replete with negative stereotypes about people who are so urgently in need of support

Marjorie Mayo, The Morning Star

A pioneer among Black female novelists . . . Emecheta writes with an appealingly jocular tone . . . In the Ditch remains politically pertinent as well as entertaining . . . its charm comes not only from its basis in fact, but also in its author’s skill for capturing the truest quirks of human character

Ellen Peirson-Hagger, The Observer