"Little Bee" by Chris Cleave

From the "Little Bee" review on Amazon.

ll you should know going in to Little Bee is that what happens on the beach is brutal, and that it braids the fates of a 16-year-old Nigerian orphan (who calls herself Little Bee) and a well-off British couple--journalists trying to repair their strained marriage with a free holiday--who should have stayed behind their resort's walls. The tide of that event carries Little Bee back to their world, which she claims she couldn't explain to the girls from her village because they'd have no context for its abundance and calm.

OK! A story about a Nigerian orphan written by a British dude - Hmmm...

I loved What is the What, written by Dave Eggers on a Sudan boy during the genocide, so I don't think you have to be Nigerian necessarily to write a good Nigerian story. Still, it's either going to be a train-wreck or a masterpiece. All the reviews I've read indicate it's the latter. Check out the review, and maybe read the book.

Readers' Review: "Little Bee" by Chris Cleave (Rebroadcast)