Longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize 2024
"Extraordinary . . . a powerful and poignant exploration of the African diaspora and global Black identity . . . This book moves like the storm Sennaar begins it with." New York Times
A Real Simple Best Book of 2024 A Washington Post Best Book of Summer A TIME Best Book of July
A "luminous" (Tara Conklin) literary debut following two dreamers, one intercultural family, and the diasporic pursuit of home.
When Bonnie and Mansour meet in New York in 1968his piercing gaze in a downtown jazz club threatening to carry her awaytheir connection is undeniable. Both from fractured homes, with childhoods spent crossing the Atlantic, they quickly find peace with each other. And as Mansour's soaring Senegalese melodies continue to break new ground, keeping time with the sound of revolution and taking him and Bonnie from Paris to Rio and Switzerland, it seems as though happiness might finally be around the corner for them both.
Then Mansour goes missing. His Spanish tour was only meant to last three weeks, but three months later, he and his band have not returned. In his absence, Bonnie reckons with her memories of him, and comes to understand that the hopes of so many womenher mother and grandmother; his mother, aunt, childhood friendrest on her perseverance. Stirred by the life growing inside her, Bonnie puts a plan in action to find him.