The Great Ponds - Elechi Amadi

The Great Ponds - Elechi Amadi

Elechi Amadi

£12.99
Pre-order

Published 10 December 2026

Order now and we’ll post it on publication day. We take payment today and hold your order until then; if the publisher moves the date we’ll email you, and you can cancel for a full refund at any point before it ships.

  • Pages · 304 pages
  • Publication Date · 10/12/2026
  • Genre · Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945)
Collect in store Pick it up free from the shop in Oxford's Covered Market, usually quicker than the post.
Delivery Standard tracked £1.99, free on orders over £20. Express tracked £2.99.
Book Lovers' Happy Hour Three cocktails matched to your taste, three books chosen for you, an hour and a half at the bar. £60 per person. Book a place →
The Great Ponds is Elechi Amadi's powerful novel about the long-running feud between two rival villages in Eastern Nigeria at a time when the region was still an early shadow of its future self. The dispute over ownership of a fertile pond escalates into a bitter, all-consuming conflict where pride, honour and tradition collide, drawing ordinary villagers into cycles of tension and tragedy. Amadi vividly recreates the atmosphere of rural life - its rituals, hierarchies and moral codes - while showing how a seemingly simple dispute can swell into a drama with far-reaching consequences. Written with precision and a remarkable talent for evoking place and character, this is an unforgettable portrait of community, conflict and the forces that shape human destiny. Discover more from the APOLLO AFRICA series: the new home for 100 timeless works from the legendary Heinemann African Writers Series.

Only at Gulp Fiction

Book Lovers' Happy Hour

An hour and a half at the bar, with three cocktails matched to your taste and three books chosen for you. Tell us what you like when you book, and we'll have them waiting when you arrive.

  • 1½ hours
  • £60 per person
  • 3 cocktails, 3 books
Book Happy Hour

Up to four of you can come — book a place each and choose the same time slot, then tell us who you're with. For larger groups, email gulpfictionbooks@gmail.com and we'll arrange it.

Three customers at the window table in Gulp Fiction, cocktails in hand beside a stack of books, with Oxford's Covered Market visible through the glass

Collect in store

Order online and pick it up from the shop. It's free, and usually quicker than the post.

Find us

Units 28–29, Covered Market, Oxford OX1 3DU. Mon–Wed 10–5, Thu–Sat 10–10, Sun 11–4.

Book a table

The bar is open late Thursday to Saturday. Reserve a table for a drink among the books.