The Jericho Wall

About the Book

This is a story of the Igbo Diaspora in America. It is a story of the cultural conflicts that often arise when an Igbo youth falls in love with, and wants to marry, a non-Igbo. Okocha Anigbo, one of the two sons of Chief Nat and Lolo Ekemma Anigbo, meets and falls in love with an American girl, Tatiana Karefa, the daughter of Edna and Philip Karefa, a jovial and unapologetic Baptist. But Chief Anigbo, a well-respected Igbo community leader and vocal opponent of cross-cultural marriages, is bitterly and implacably opposed to his son’s plan to marry the American girl. Entreaties from his son, and even from one of the respected elders of the Igbo community, Chikezie Odogwu, fail to persuade him to change his position. For his part, Okocha sees the traditional and cultural underpinnings relating to the institution of marriage among the Igbo as a veritable Wall of Jericho that needs to be breached, to let the Igbo youth freely marry from outside the Igbo clan.

In the teeth of Chief Anigbo’s opposition, but with the blessing of Philip Karefa, Okocha and Tatiana marry. The denouement comes with the birth of their child.

About the Author

Christian Chike Momah was born on October 20, 1930. He was educated at the St. Michael’s (C.M.S.) School, Aba; the Government College, Umuahia; and the University College, Ibadan, where he earned a Bachelor’s degree in History, English and Religious Studies in 1953. In 1959, he obtained the Associateship of the Library Association from the University College, London. He was the first Nigerian graduate Land Officer (1954-1956) in the Public Service of the Eastern Nigerian government. Then he worked as a librarian in the University College, Ibadan (1956-1962); the University of Lagos (1962-1965); and the United Nations, first in Geneva, Switzerland (1966-1978), and then in New York (from 1978 till his retirement in 1990). He has authored five other published novels: (1). FRIENDS AND DREAMS (1997); (2) TITI: Biafran Maid in Geneva (1999); (3). THE SHINING ONES: The Umuahia School days of Obinna Okoye (2003; reprinted 2010)); (4). THE STREAM NEVER DRIES UP (2008); (5) A SNAKE UNDER A THATCH (2008). He has written a few articles on Nigeria and on the USA. Chike Momah has been married to Ethel, nee Obi, since 1959. The couple has two sons (Chukwudi and Azuka) and one daughter (Adaora), and has been blessed with seven grandchildren, and counting. Among his contemporaries in high school and/or college are some of Africa’s most noted writers: Chinua Achebe (Africa’s foremost novelist, trail-blazer and essayist); Chukwuemeka Ike (acclaimed university administrator and prolific novelist); Wole Soyinka (1986 Nobel laureate in Literature); and the late Christopher Okigbo (considered to be Nigeria’s “finest ever” poet, as per the 15th edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica). He is an involved member of the Nigerian community in the U.S.A., and has been honored with awards recognizing this involvement, including the first meritorious awards given by Songhai Charities, Inc., and by the Government College Umuahia Old Boys Association, Inc., both in 2003. In 2003, he was honored with a chieftaincy (Nnabuenyi-Nnewi) by HRH Kenneth Orizu, Igwe Nnewi, Anambra State, Nigeria. In 2011, the Texas House of Representatives, and the Senate, by a Resolution in each chamber, recognized him for his contributions to the literature of his homeland. Arlington, TX 76012