Shortlisted for the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction
A New York Times Notable Book of the Year and Editors’ Choice
Selected in Best Reads of 2023 by The Guardian, The Times, Financial Times, Harper’s Bazaar, New Statesman and Good Housekeeping
A Waterstones Book of the Year
The Bookseller Editor’s Choice
Awarded a starred Kirkus review
After fifty years in London, Alice wants to return home to Nigeria. Her three daughters are divided on whether she stays or goes, and in the wake of their father’s death, the imagined stability of the family begins to fray. Meanwhile youngest sister Melissa has never let go of a love she lost, and Michael in return, even within the sturdy walls of his marriage to Nicole, is haunted by the failed perfection of the past.
Set against the shadows of Grenfell and a country in turmoil, these ordinary people confront fundamental questions. How to raise our children? How to do right by our parents? And how, in the midst of everything, do we satisfy ourselves?
