The Book of Daniel

Author's Name: E.L. Doctorow

In his 1971 novel, The Book of Daniel, American author E. L. Doctorow (1931–2015) based his book on the famous 1951 case of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who were accused of spying for the Soviet Union and whose executions took place two years later.
In this novel, we follow the events of the accusation and trial through the eyes of Daniel, the eldest son of the two protagonists, Paul and Rochelle, and witness the impact of these events on his life and that of his sister, Susan, who accompanies them for the rest of their lives. The lives of the parents, and then the two younger ones, are shattered... "It's just about them. This feeling of orphanhood that erases everything else, that separates them from everyone else, and that will always persist no matter how hard they try to deny it." Doctorow also offers an analysis of American society's fear of communism and the attempt to eradicate all forms of it before it spreads.
The novel, which critics described as a "quasi-historical work," was made into a film, "Daniel," in 1983.

We learn with Thiong'o the value of knowledge, which colonialism withheld from the Kenyan people. He tells us about the emergence of formal education and independent, rebellious schools in Kenya. His dream, which he promised his mother he would spare no effort to achieve, was to learn. But how can a child cling to his dream amidst the shadows of World War II and his family crises? This childhood memoir serves as Thiong'o's testimony in defense of his right to dream, at least, despite all the difficulties, and of his mother's significant role in his life, which has led him to become one of Africa's greatest writers worldwide.