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Vendor
Mohrbooks Literary Agency
Sebastian Ritscher
Original language
English
Categories

NIGHTBLOOM

Peace Adzo Medie

A novel

Peace Adzo Medie, author of Reese's Book Club pick His Only Wife, returns with a moving novel about the unbreakable power of female friendship.
When Selasi and Akorfa were young girls in Ghana, they were more than just cousins; they were inseparable. Selasi was exuberant and funny, Akorfa quiet and studious. They would do anything for each other, imploring their parents to let them be together, sharing their secrets and desires and private jokes.

Then Selasi begins to change, becoming hostile and quiet; her grades suffer and she builds a space around herself, shutting Akorfa out. Meanwhile, Akorfa is accepted to an American university with the goal of becoming a doctor. Although hopeful that she can create a fuller life as a woman in America, she discovers the insidious ways that racism places obstacles in her path once she leaves Ghana. It takes a crisis to bring the friends back together, with Selasi's secret revealed and Akorfa forced to reckon with her role in their estrangement.

A riveting depiction of class and family in Ghana, a compelling exploration of memory, and an eye-opening story of life as an African-born woman in the United States, Nightbloom is above all a gripping and beautifully written novel attesting to the strength of female bonds in the face of societies that would prefer to silence women.
Available products
Book

Published 2023-06-13 by Algonquin Books

Book

Published 2023-06-13 by Algonquin Books

Comments

Evocative . . . [Medie] immerse[s] the reader in the details of these two otherwise ordinary lives . . . The shifts in perspective - from Akorfa's to Selasi's to a short final section narrated in the third person - add tension and dramatic irony.

Thought-provoking and beautifully told.

Peace Adzo Medie is the doyenne of the emotional plot twist. Just when you're sure you've figured it out, she reminds you there are two sides to every story. A book to read and then find someone to discuss it with.

UK/Comm: Oneworld ; Dutch: Pelckmans ; French: Editions de l'Aube

Nightbloom is a book about secrets; not just the ones passed between sister-cousins giggling in the dark, but the kinds our families require us to keep, the ones that reshape the landscape of who we become. In this stunning novel, Akorfa and Selasi share common wounds inflicted by the same adults who have vowed to care for them, but those wounds wield drastically different results in each woman.

Medie's first novel, His Only Wife, was a knockout and her sophomore venture doesn't disappoint. Focused on friendship, secrets, courage and truth, Nightbloom addresses complex issues with nuance, candor and tenderness.