Pre-order: To be shipped in publication month October 2024
WOMEN'S PRIZE LONGLISTED AUTHOR OF 'STRANGE MUSIC'.
WINNER: SI LEEDS READER\'S CHOICE AWARD 2022.
Leaving Oxford and the shocking death of her father behind, Koliwe travels to AIDS-ravaged Eswatini to take a job as an aid worker. The Southern Africa she encounters is a far cry from her father’s stories.
As she becomes enmeshed with Thandi, a local girl hiding a disturbing past, Koliwe feels increasingly split between her English identity and her rediscovered African roots.
When Thandi goes missing, Koliwe's search for truth leads her deep into the mountains, where harsh realities of wealth, poverty, tradition and modernity, clash.
A compelling story of exploitation and cultural collision...
'So many jewels in this book, miniature specifics...Every page rings with authenticity.'
- Monique Roffey, Costa Award Winner
'Fish is a talented and skilful writer who deserves serious attention and a wide readership.' - Sharon Duggal
The Sunday Times about 'Strange Music': 'A gifted writer and her manipulation of language is her forte - brilliant, sensuous and shocking.'
Times Literary Supplement about 'Strange Music': ‘A provocative contribution to revisionist (and feminist) post-colonial fiction.’
The Guardian about 'Strange Music': ‘This excellent book is worthy of comparison with Jean Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea, which it echoes, and deserves to reach a large and appreciative audience.’
Time Out about 'Strange Music': ‘An accomplished storyteller whose beautiful prose delivers you right into the heart of the plantation.'
The Independent about 'Strange Music': 'Once Strange Music grips you, you won't be able to put it down.'
About the Author:
Laura Fish is an award-winning writer of Caribbean heritage. She is a graduate of the MA in Creative Writing programme at UEA (2002) and was awarded a PhD in Creative and Critical Writing from UEA (2007).
Her third novel, Lying Perfectly Still, was S I Leeds Reader’s Choice winner 2022, and came third in the S I Leeds Literary Prize 2022.
Her second novel, Strange Music (Jonathan Cape 2008; Vintage 2009, now available penguin.co.uk) was Orange Prize listed 2009; International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award nominated 2009; selected for Pearson Edexcel's Black British Writing A level reading guide 2017/18; is taught on university courses internationally. Her first novel, Flight of Black Swans (London: Duckworth 1995) received very favourable reviews in The Guardian, the Evening Standard, and Times Literary Supplement.
Since 2014, Laura has been employed at Northumbria University
