by Akwaeke Emezi
Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers
4/15/2025, hardcover
SKU: 9780593309070
From the National Book Award finalist and author of Pet comes a novel set in a magical West African world, about a teen girl who must save her missing twin while learning to navigate her own terrifying new powers.
Somadina and her twin brother, Jayaike, are practically the same person: they finish each other's sentences and make each other whole. When the twins come of age, their magical gifts begin to develop, but while Jayaike's powers enchant, Somadina's cause fear to ripple through her town.
Always an outsider, Somadina now faces blatant--and dangerous--hostility. And things go from bad to worse when her brother--the one person she trusted--vanishes. Somadina knows that no matter the dangers, she must track him down. Even if it means entering the Sacred Forest. Even if it means grueling, otherworldly travel she may not survive. Even if it means finding the hidden places where those closest to the spirit world don't dare to go. Does Somadina have the strength --within both her body and her soul -- for the trying journey ahead?
National Book Award finalist Akwaeke Emezi masterfully weaves a tale of family, identity, and the power of the past, in a world where the extraordinary is ordinary.
Reviews:
"Emezi's latest novel will help readers see beauty in the void. Fans of their work or Nnedi Okorafor's "Nsibidi Script" series will doubtlessly gravitate to this one." -- School Library Journal, starred review
"A moving story of a family that grapples with secret pasts and obvious parental favoritism, one that....makes space for big feelings that aren't easily resolved." -- The Bulletin, starred review
"A haunting and healing tale of transcendent familial bonds." -- The Horn Book, starred review
About the Author:
Akwaeke Emezi (they/them) is the author of many books for both teens and adults. These include: Pet, a finalist for the National Book Award for Young People's Literature, a Walter Honor Book and a Stonewall Honor Book; Bitter, a YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults Pick; the New York Times bestseller The Death of Vivek Oji, which was a finalist for the Dylan Thomas Prize; Freshwater, which was named a New York Times Notable Book and shortlisted for the PEN/Hemingway Award; Dear Senthuran: A Black Spirit Memoir; and most recently You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty. Selected as a 5 Under 35 honoree by the National Book Foundation, they are based in liminal spaces.