Introducing the Collins Modern Classics, a series featuring some of the most significant books of recent times, books that shed light on the human experience - classics which will endure for generations to come.

How easy it was to lie to strangers, to create with strangers the versions of our lives we imagined.

Ifemelu and Obinze are young and in love when they depart military-ruled Nigeria. Self-assured Ifemelu heads for America. But quiet, thoughtful Obinze finds post-9/11 America closed to him, and plunges into a dangerous undocumented life in London.

Fifteen years later, they reunite in a newly democratic Nigeria, and reignite their passion - for each other and for their homeland.

Fearless, gripping and spanning three continents and numerous lives, the National Book Critics Circle Award-winning Americanah is a richly told story of love and expectation in a globalised world.

'Some novels tell a great story and other make you chane the way you look at the world. Americanah does both' Guardian