Sally Bissell

134 Articles

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PREMIUM

Daughter in Exile

Whether or not Lola’s experiences limn the author’s own, Adjapon’s (The Teller of Secrets) crackling dialogue and barbed humor feel close to the bone. Themes of classism, racism, and fierce feminism will appeal to book groups and readers of Mbolo Mbue’s Behold the Dreamers or Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche’s Americanah.

Ghost Season

Hopeful and despairing in equal measure, Abbas takes readers on an emotional roller coaster, employing her protagonists as metaphor for Sudan’s possibilities if it was not mired in poverty, hunger, and tribal rivalries. A propulsive read; highly recommended.
PREMIUM

Call and Response: Stories

Moeng, a former Stegner Fellow at Stanford with an MFA from the University of Mississippi, writes with lush, heartfelt intensity that illuminates contemporary Botswana for readers who value complex female characters navigating a rapidly changing world.

The Light Pirate

Writing as if she too had lived alone in Florida’s mangrove swamps, fishing by night, sleeping through the heat of the day, Brooks-Dalton turns a devastating dystopian vision on its head in this redemptive tale by asking whether life is sustainable without human connection. This exquisite novel will appeal to a diverse group of readers, from fans of environmental writers Alan Weisman and Elizabeth Kolbert to admirers of Lydia Millet’s A Children’s Bible and Delia Owens’s hero Kya Clark.
PREMIUM

Jollof Rice and Other Revolutions: A Novel in Interlocking Stories

These beautifully rendered stories form an impressive whole that will please multiple literary tastes, combining Nigerian history with a touch of mysticism, and contemporary familial angst with a dire futuristic vision.
PREMIUM

Afterlives

Will appeal to aficionados of historical fiction but could leave others yearning for a deeper understanding of the characters’ motivations for their sometimes inexplicable actions. Still, the Nobel Prize bestowed renewed international acclaim on Gurnah’s body of work, making this novel a must-have.

Properties of Thirst

In lush language, Wiggins evokes a keen sense of history and its life altering effects, a righteous frustration with government deception, and faith in the power of love to quench one’s deepest thirsts.
PREMIUM

Patience Is a Subtle Thief

Abi Ishola-Ayodeji, award-winning journalist and television producer, can add accomplished author to her accolades with publication of this intense debut novel that explores the deleterious effects of secrets kept and the wrenching choices one woman makes in her search for identity and connection.
PREMIUM

Dele Weds Destiny

The intricacies of female friendships and the complex nature of mother/daughter relationships are at the heart of this absorbing novel from BuzzFeed culture editor Obaro, a sharp new voice on the literary scene.
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