Arrow of God

Ezeulu is the chief priest of Ulu, the deity that unites the six villages of Umuaro, and his authority depends on both sacred duty and the willingness of the people to accept his interpretation of it. A land dispute with neighbouring Okperi exposes divisions within the federation, while British officials attempt to understand and control institutions they reduce to convenient administrative categories. Ezeulu sends a son to the mission school as an observer, believing he can use the colonial presence without submitting to it.

When the district officer summons Ezeulu and tries to appoint him as a warrant chief, religious authority and imperial administration enter a direct contest. Ezeulu’s refusal carries personal and political consequences, but his later use of the ritual calendar against his opponents threatens the harvest and the survival of the villages. Set in the early decades of colonial rule, the novel examines indirect government, missionary expansion and the danger of treating spiritual office as private power.