Ugwu, a village boy from Opi, arrives at Odenigbo's book-filled house in Nsukka to begin work as a houseboy.

Olanna moves in with Odenigbo at his Nsukka University home after returning from a visit to her family.

Richard Churchill meets Kainene at an expatriate party and the two immediately connect, beginning a relationship.

Major Nzeogwu announces over the radio that a military coup has deposed Nigeria's government, thrilling Odenigbo and his guests.

Hausa-led military officers stage a counter-coup, overthrowing the Igbo regime and massacring Igbo officials and soldiers across Nigeria.

Mohammed drives Olanna through Kano where she discovers the mutilated bodies of her Aunt Ifeka and Uncle Mbaezi.

Fleeing Kano on a packed train, Olanna encounters a woman calmly carrying her young daughter's severed head in a calabash.

Colonel Ojukwu announces over the radio that Eastern Nigeria has seceded from Nigeria as the new Republic of Biafra.

Nigerian war planes bomb the area during Odenigbo and Olanna's modest outdoor wedding ceremony, sending guests fleeing for their lives.

Ugwu is kidnapped by Biafran soldiers as he walks Eberechi home and is forcibly conscripted into the military.

After blowing up a mine and looting enemy soldiers, Ugwu joins fellow troops in raping a bar girl.

During a combat operation, shrapnel slices through Ugwu and he falls unconscious in a trench, presumed dead by his loved ones.

Kainene says goodbye to Richard and crosses into Nigeria to collect supplies for the refugee camp, and never returns.

A woman bursts onto the street announcing that Biafra has surrendered, ending the Nigerian Civil War.

The dedication of The World Was Silent When We Died is revealed, showing Ugwu as the book's true author.

Ugwu's arrival as Odenigbo's houseboy sets the story in motion, establishing the tight-knit circle of Igbo intellectuals at Nsukka University. Nigeria's political crisis erupts with a military coup and a brutal counter-coup, drawing every character into the coming war. The secession of Biafra ignites fierce hope among the Igbo characters, but Nigeria's military response quickly turns their optimism to terror. As the war grinds on, Ugwu is conscripted and commits atrocities, while the Biafran cause crumbles around those who survive. Kainene's disappearance leaves an open wound at the novel's end, and the characters must accept defeat and attempt to rebuild their shattered lives. The pool closes with the revelation that Ugwu, once an illiterate village boy, has written a book preserving the memory of everything they endured.

The headline events of Biafra's rise and fall.

Odenigbo recognizes Ugwu's innate intelligence during their first conversation and promises to enroll him in the campus school.

Olanna refuses her father's attempt to offer her to Finance Minister Chief Okonji in exchange for a building contract.

Richard ends his relationship with Susan so that he can pursue his growing feelings for Kainene.

Richard visits the Igbo-Ukwu archaeological excavation site and is deeply moved by the intricacy of the ancient roped pots.

Odenigbo's mother arrives in Nsukka, accuses Olanna of being a witch, and drives Olanna to flee to her own apartment.

Olanna and Arize switch to speaking Yoruba in a Kano marketplace crowd to hide their Igbo identity amid spreading anti-Igbo violence.

An emaciated Madu arrives at Kainene's door describing how he survived the Hausa purge by hiding in a chicken coop for two days.

Richard watches Hausa militants shoot Igbo customs agent Nnaemeka dead at Kano airport for refusing to say Allahu Akbar.

Richard submits an article blaming British colonial policy for the Igbo massacres, but the Herald editors reject it in favor of sensational violence.

After hearing distant artillery fire, Odenigbo's household hastily packs their belongings and evacuates Nsukka with Biafran soldiers ushering them out.

Odenigbo's mother refuses to flee Abba with the family and is left behind as the others drive away.

Amala abandons her newborn baby girl at the hospital and Olanna convinces Odenigbo that they should raise the child themselves.

Kainene tells Richard he is unoriginal after learning of his affair with Olanna, then burns his working manuscript in retaliation.

Richard produces propaganda articles about Nigerian massacres for the Biafran government and meets Swedish volunteer pilot Count Von Rosen in Uli.

After the war ends, Olanna makes a fire and burns the last of the now worthless Biafran currency left around the house.

This pool traces the personal decisions and understated revelations that give the novel its emotional depth, from Ugwu's first education to the betrayals that fracture the central relationships. Richard's growing connection to Nigerian culture and his doomed attempt to publish an honest account of colonial history expose the limits of his outsider perspective. The anti-Igbo violence witnessed in Kano and at the airport makes the coming war viscerally real before a single battle is formally fought. As the war progresses, the characters make desperate choices — evacuating their homes, adopting abandoned children, and sacrificing for one another — that reveal who they truly are under pressure. The propaganda campaign and Kainene's destruction of Richard's manuscript illustrate the cost of betrayal and the lengths people go to reclaim control. The pool ends with Olanna burning worthless Biafran currency, a quiet symbol of everything the war has destroyed.

The relationships, choices, and quiet revelations that shaped the story.

Odenigbo suggests they try to have a child together and Olanna enthusiastically agrees, seeing it as proof their love is destined.

Okeoma accuses Richard of sounding condescending about ancient Igbo art, and a mortified Richard goes home and destroys his tentative manuscript.

Olanna gives birth to a daughter whom Odenigbo and Olanna call simply Baby.

The radio reports 500 Igbo civilians have been massacred in Northern Nigeria, but Odenigbo dismisses the broadcast as rubbish.

Olanna collapses at Odenigbo's door after escaping Kano and suffers her first Dark Swoop episode, a psychological response to her trauma.

Kainene arrives to visit the bedridden Olanna after her Kano ordeal and the estranged sisters have an unexpected emotional reunion.

While sheltering in Abba at his mother's house, Odenigbo asks Olanna to marry him and she says yes.

Ugwu watches Odenigbo's mother rub a mysterious paste on Amala's back and becomes convinced a curse is being worked against Olanna.

Odenigbo admits to Olanna that he has impregnated Amala during their affair, and Olanna responds by walking away in silence.

Olanna invites Richard over for wine during her separation from Odenigbo, and the two end up sleeping together.

Ugwu disobeys Olanna's strict orders and wanders outside, is seized by Biafran soldiers, and Olanna spends her last cash to free him.

Nigerian forces capture the Biafran capital of Umuahia, and the news devastates the morale of Biafran soldiers including Ugwu.

A priest discovers the wounded Ugwu alive in a military hospital and alerts Odenigbo; Richard drives Ugwu to a proper facility to recover.

Ugwu begins writing down his wartime experiences and finds that his nightmares lessen in direct proportion to how much he writes each day.

Richard confronts Madu about his love for Kainene, the two men fight, and Richard finally accepts that he will never find her.

This pool focuses on the pivotal emotional moments that redirect the story's characters, beginning with Odenigbo and Olanna's decision to start a family and Richard's first crisis of identity as an outsider accused of condescension. The news of massacres in the North arrives first as rumor dismissed by Odenigbo, then with devastating personal force when Olanna returns traumatized from Kano and is reunited with her estranged sister. Odenigbo's affair and Olanna's act of revenge with Richard shatter the relationships at the story's heart, setting off a chain of jealousy and betrayal that takes the rest of the novel to resolve. Ugwu's kidnapping and eventual participation in wartime rape mark his tragic transformation from innocent houseboy to damaged soldier carrying a secret he cannot confess. The pool closes with Ugwu finding partial redemption through writing and Richard finally accepting the unbearable truth that Kainene is never coming back.