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2024 National Book Award for Fiction (shortlist)
The supernatural looms over the grime and sweat of everyday life in Lagos in this dazzling collection of stories from a prize-winning young Nigerian writer.
'Wildly inventive' New York Times Book Review
'Excellently uncanny' Daily Mail
'You'll find it hard to tear yourself away' Ore Agbaje-Williams, author of The Three of Us
The Lagos of these twelve sinister and beguiling stories is multi-faceted, peopled by Pentecostal Christians and exasperated atheists; by tight-knit extended families and struggling single fathers. Here are characters cursed by guilt, bound by the ties of ancestors and community; or enchanted by the allure of mysticism and would-be prophets. There are gossips and party girls - and a schoolboy followed home by a group of tribal masquerades, cloaked in feathers and twinkling beads. Yes, his mother has warned him not to bring strangers home, but he is sure she will understand ...
Exploring the dark borders between psychology and superstition, these feverishly imaginative stories of trauma, betrayal, terror and love lay bare the forces of myth, tradition, gender, sexuality and modernity in Nigerian society. Powered by a deep empathy, and glinting with humour and insight, they announce a major new literary talent.
Genre: Horror
'Wildly inventive' New York Times Book Review
'Excellently uncanny' Daily Mail
'You'll find it hard to tear yourself away' Ore Agbaje-Williams, author of The Three of Us
The Lagos of these twelve sinister and beguiling stories is multi-faceted, peopled by Pentecostal Christians and exasperated atheists; by tight-knit extended families and struggling single fathers. Here are characters cursed by guilt, bound by the ties of ancestors and community; or enchanted by the allure of mysticism and would-be prophets. There are gossips and party girls - and a schoolboy followed home by a group of tribal masquerades, cloaked in feathers and twinkling beads. Yes, his mother has warned him not to bring strangers home, but he is sure she will understand ...
Exploring the dark borders between psychology and superstition, these feverishly imaginative stories of trauma, betrayal, terror and love lay bare the forces of myth, tradition, gender, sexuality and modernity in Nigerian society. Powered by a deep empathy, and glinting with humour and insight, they announce a major new literary talent.
Genre: Horror
Praise for this book
"I loved everything about this book, which heralds a major and extraordinary new voice in fiction. . . . These stories consumed me. I'll be thinking about them for years to come." - Clare Beams
"Here you'll find breathtaking stories of the familiar and the strange, full of empathy for characters trying to bridge chasms between communities, families, generations, and their ghosts. 'Pemi Aguda builds worlds with blade-like acuity. You'll be caught in their sway and transported." - Diane Cook
"Ghostroots is a triumph. 'Pemi Aguda's strong storytelling skills give readers the gift of realistic characters and darkly imaginative stories that creep under your skin and stay buried there. . . . 'Pemi Aguda is now among my favorite authors." - Tananarive Due
"In Ghostroots, the delightful speculative conceits of the stories are elegantly, even architecturally, balanced with the gorgeous fullness of human emotion, all the hunger and longing and fear and delight of being a human being in the world. A wonderful collection from a truly gifted writer." - Lauren Groff
"In this perceptive and astute collection, 'Pemi Aguda tells of the metaphysical cracks on the surface of contemporary Nigerian society with an uncompromising, humane touch." - Emmanuel Iduma
"A marvelously unsettling collection where the everyday strangeness of life and the uncanny rub up against each other." - Kelly Link
"Ghostroots is a big, strong river. Once you are caught in its currents, you flow with it no matter where it runs. And it runs through gorgeous and startling places." - Luis Alberto Urrea
"Ghostroots is the kind of collection you dream of discovering and reading-from one of my favorite living writers." - Jeff VanderMeer
"Here you'll find breathtaking stories of the familiar and the strange, full of empathy for characters trying to bridge chasms between communities, families, generations, and their ghosts. 'Pemi Aguda builds worlds with blade-like acuity. You'll be caught in their sway and transported." - Diane Cook
"Ghostroots is a triumph. 'Pemi Aguda's strong storytelling skills give readers the gift of realistic characters and darkly imaginative stories that creep under your skin and stay buried there. . . . 'Pemi Aguda is now among my favorite authors." - Tananarive Due
"In Ghostroots, the delightful speculative conceits of the stories are elegantly, even architecturally, balanced with the gorgeous fullness of human emotion, all the hunger and longing and fear and delight of being a human being in the world. A wonderful collection from a truly gifted writer." - Lauren Groff
"In this perceptive and astute collection, 'Pemi Aguda tells of the metaphysical cracks on the surface of contemporary Nigerian society with an uncompromising, humane touch." - Emmanuel Iduma
"A marvelously unsettling collection where the everyday strangeness of life and the uncanny rub up against each other." - Kelly Link
"Ghostroots is a big, strong river. Once you are caught in its currents, you flow with it no matter where it runs. And it runs through gorgeous and startling places." - Luis Alberto Urrea
"Ghostroots is the kind of collection you dream of discovering and reading-from one of my favorite living writers." - Jeff VanderMeer
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