The New York Times best-selling author of The Nix is back with a poignant and witty novel about marriage, the often baffling pursuit of health and happiness, and the stories that bind us together. From the gritty '90s Chicago art scene to a suburbia of detox diets and home-renovation hysteria, Wellness reimagines the love story with a healthy dose of insight, irony, and heart. "A hilarious and moving exploration of a modern marriage that astounds in its breadth and intimacy." --Brit Bennett, author of The Vanishing Half When Jack and Elizabeth meet as college students in the '90s, the two quickly join forces and hold on tight, each eager to claim a place in Chicago's thriving underground art scene with an appreciative kindred spirit. Fast-forward twenty years to married life, and alongside the challenges of parenting, they encounter cults disguised as mindfulness support groups, polyamorous would-be suitors, Facebook wars, and something called Love Potion Number Nine. For the first time, Jack and Elizabeth struggle to recognize each other, and the no-longer-youthful dreamers are forced to face their demons, from unfulfilled career ambitions to painful childhood memories of their own dysfunctional families. In the process, Jack and Elizabeth must undertake separate, personal excavations, or risk losing the best thing in their lives: each other.
"The List was phenomenal. Brilliantly written, intricately plotted and incredibly clever. Once I started, I could not put it down, and I am sure I'll be thinking about this book for a very long time." -- Abi Daré, New York Times bestselling author of The Girl with the Louding Voice In this sensational, page-turning debut novel, a high-profile female journalist's world is upended when her fiancé's name turns up in a viral social media post--a nuanced, daring, and timely exploration of the real-world impact of online life, from award-winning journalist and internationally bestselling author Yomi Adegoke. Ola Olajide, a celebrated journalist at Womxxxn magazine, is set to marry the love of her life in one month's time. Young, beautiful, and successful--she and her fiancé Michael are considered the "couple goals" of their social network and seem to have it all. That is, until one morning when they both wake up to the same message: "Oh my god, have you seen The List?" It began as a crowdsourced collection of names and somehow morphed into an anonymous account posting allegations on social media. Ola would usually be the first to support such a list--she'd retweet it, call for the men to be fired, write article after article. Except this time, Michael's name is on it. Compulsively readable, wildly entertaining, and filled with sharp social insight, The List is a piercing and dazzlingly clear-sighted debut about secrets, lies, and the internet. Perfect for fans of Such a Fun Age, Luster, and My Dark Vanessa, this is a searing portrait of these modern times and our morally complicated online culture. "Topical, heartfelt, provocative and wise, Yomi Adegoke's characters are tenderly realized . . . the entire cast of this ultimate millennial novel springs vividly to life." -- Bernardine Evaristo, Booker Prize-winning author of Girl, Woman, Other "The List asks 'what if?' and the answers will surely get people thinking. A vibrantly told exploration of the messy interface between virtual and offline relationships. A page-turning tale!" -- Charmaine Wilkerson, New York Times bestselling author of Black Cake
A gorgeously modern gothic fantasy from the New York Times bestselling author of TEN THOUSAND DOORS OF JANUARY--welcome to Starling House: enter, if you dare. I dream sometimes about a house I've never seen.... Opal is a lot of things--orphan, high school dropout, full-time cynic and part-time cashier--but above all, she's a determined to find a better life for her younger brother Jasper. One that gets them out of Eden, Kentucky, a town remarkable for only two things: 1) a surprising amount of unexplained bad luck and natural disasters 2) the only known sightings of E. (Eleanor) Starling, a reclusive nineteenth-century author whose only published book, The Underland, was considered almost as shocking as the author's later mysterious disappearance. But Starling left behind one other thing: the imposing house that bears her name. Everyone agrees that it's best to ignore the uncanny mansion, and its misanthropic heir, Arthur . Almost everyone, anyway.. I should be scared, but in the dream I don't hesitate. Opal knows better than to mess with haunted houses or brooding men, but still can't resist a chance to see inside Starling House. So when an unexpected opportunityunexpected opportunity arises, she jumps at it. Besides, it means double the money to put towards her brother's escape fund. But sinister forces are digging deeper into the buried secrets of Starling House, and Arthur's own nightmares have become far too real. As Eden itself seems to be drowning in its own ghosts, Opal realizes that she might finally have found a reason to stick around. In my dream, I'm home. And now she'll have to fight.
With echoes of Educated and Born a Crime, How to Say Babylon is the stunning story of the author's struggle to break free of her rigid Rastafarian upbringing, ruled by her father's strict patriarchal views and repressive control of her childhood, to find her own voice as a woman and poet. Throughout her childhood, Safiya Sinclair's father, a volatile reggae musician and militant adherent to a strict sect of Rastafari, became obsessed with her purity, in particular, with the threat of what Rastas call Babylon, the immoral and corrupting influences of the Western world outside their home. He worried that womanhood would make Safiya and her sisters morally weak and impure, and believed a woman's highest virtue was her obedience. In an effort to keep Babylon outside the gate, he forbade almost everything. In place of pants, the women in her family were made to wear long skirts and dresses to cover their arms and legs, head wraps to cover their hair, no make-up, no jewelry, no opinions, no friends. Safiya's mother, while loyal to her father, nonetheless gave Safiya and her siblings the gift of books, including poetry, to which Safiya latched on for dear life. And as Safiya watched her mother struggle voicelessly for years under housework and the rigidity of her father's beliefs, she increasingly used her education as a sharp tool with which to find her voice and break free. Inevitably, with her rebellion comes clashes with her father, whose rage and paranoia explodes in increasing violence. As Safiya's voice grows, lyrically and poetically, a collision course is set between them. How to Say Babylon is Sinclair's reckoning with the culture that initially nourished but ultimately sought to silence her; it is her reckoning with patriarchy and tradition, and the legacy of colonialism in Jamaica. Rich in lyricism and language only a poet could evoke, How to Say Babylon is both a universal story of a woman finding her own power and a unique glimpse into a rarefied world we may know how to name, Rastafari, but one we know little about.