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Published Jul 2023
272 pages
Genre: Literary Fiction
Publication Information
An exhilarating and expansive new novel about fathers and sons, faith and friendship from National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 honoree and Costa First Novel Award winning author Caleb Azumah Nelson
One of the most acclaimed and internationally bestselling "unforgettable" (New York Times) debuts of the 2021, Caleb Azumah Nelson's London-set love story Open Water took the US by storm and introduced the world to a salient and insightful new voice in fiction. Now, with his second novel Small Worlds, the prodigious Azumah Nelson brings another set of enduring characters to brilliant life in his signature rhythmic, melodic prose.
Set over the course of three summers, Small Worlds follows Stephen, a first-generation Londoner born to Ghanian immigrant parents, brother to Ray, and best friend to Adeline. On the cusp of big life changes, Stephen feels pressured to follow a certain path—a university degree, a move out of home—but when he decides instead to follow his first love, music, his world and family fractures in ways he didn't foresee. Now Stephen must find a path and peace for himself: a space he can feel beautiful, a space he can feel free.
Moving from London, England to Accra, Ghana and back again, Small Worlds is an exquisite and intimate new novel about the people and places we hold close, from one of the most "elegant, poetic" (CNN) and important voices of a generation.
"Astonishing…Nelson's assured writing captures the pulse of a dance party, the heat of a family's bond, and the depth of spiritual fervor to conjure a story as infectious as a new favorite song." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"The musicality of Nelson's language underscores this vibrant and deeply moving tale of love, family, and coming of age. While stories of conflict between first-and second-generation immigrants are common, the cultural richness and specificity of Nelson's narrative rises above tropes and stereotypes." —Library Journal (starred review)
"A story about an artist feeling the opposite pulls of family and his true passion, and how splintering those demands can be. A chance to get lost in Caleb Azumah Nelson's sonorous prose again? Music to our ears." —Literary Hub, Most Anticipated Books of 2023
"There's something wide-eyed and lovely about the way Caleb Aumah Nelson writes about what it is to be young and alive to the world…This novel is about the dynamic between a father and son over three summers in London and Ghana, but it is also about music, and dancing, and those pleasures in life that are simple and yet also everything." —Esquire, Most Anticipated Books of 2023
"Azumah Nelson's characters are intelligent, and his poetic, elastic, bright prose has an uplifting energy, even when he's writing about the pain of loneliness...Azumah Nelson is something new: an unashamedly clever, spiritual, angry, loving voice in fiction, just when we need it most. Small Worlds is a book for everyone…. No one could fail to feel the message, of always striving for emotional honesty and hope, that is at the heart of this uplifting symphony of a summer read." —Times (UK)
"What makes Azumah Nelson so seductive is the way he nails how it feels to be young, in love, in London in the summer, with possibility stretching out ahead. His territory is the after-hours funk clubs of Deptford and Peckham frequented by black people in search of music and kinship; the Caribbean cafés that stay open into the small hours; the journeys back home on the night bus. Thanks to his supple, lambent prose, it's a landscape that dazzles." —Telegraph (UK)
This information about Small Worlds was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Caleb Azumah Nelson is a British-Ghanaian writer and photographer, living in South East London. His short story, "Pray", was shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award. His debut Open Water won the Costa First Novel Award, the British Book Award for Debut Fiction, was a National Book Foundation "5 Under 35" and was named a best book of the year by TIME, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Library Journal, Literary Hub, and The Millions, among other places.
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