The Edge of Water

You must sign in to see if this title is available for request. Sign In or Register Now
Send NetGalley books directly to your Kindle or Kindle app

1
To read on a Kindle or Kindle app, please add kindle@netgalley.com as an approved email address to receive files in your Amazon account. Click here for step-by-step instructions.
2
Also find your Kindle email address within your Amazon account, and enter it here.
Pub Date Feb 04 2025 | Archive Date Jan 31 2025
Tin House | Tin House Books

Talking about this book? Use #TheEdgeofWater #NetGalley. More hashtag tips!


Description

In Ibadan, Nigeria, a mother receives a divination that foretells danger for her daughter in America. In spite of this warning, she allows her to forge her own path, and Amina arrives in New Orleans filled with hope. But just as Amina begins to find her way, a hurricane threatens to destroy the city, upending everything she’d dreamed of and the lives of all she holds dear. Years later, her daughter is left with questions about the mother she barely knew, and the family she has yet to discover in Nigeria.

Exploring the love of a determined mother and dreaming daughter who do not say enough to each other until it is too late, the detangling of Yoruba Christianity, traditional religion, and folklore, and the tellings of three generations of daring women—through times of longing, promise, and romance, as well as heartbreak—Olufunke Grace Bankole’s The Edge of Water is a luminous debut novel about a young woman brave enough to leave all she knows behind, and the way her fate transforms a family destined to stay together.


In Ibadan, Nigeria, a mother receives a divination that foretells danger for her daughter in America. In spite of this warning, she allows her to forge her own path, and Amina arrives in New Orleans...


Advance Praise

"An artfully constructed, beautifully told, and utterly moving book. A thrilling debut." -Jami Attenberg, author of A Reason to See You Again

"In exploring what happens when we reject our given paths, The Edge of Water asks the deepest questions of us. Olufunke Grace Bankole's marginalized characters navigate heartbreak and hardship within communities that dehumanize them, but Bankole restores their humanity on the page in ways that reshaped me. Despite seeming trapped by adversity, they refuse to passively accept their fates; in this story, survival is not merely a physical question but also a spiritual one. I was gripped by this brilliant and fascinating take on Greek tragedy, employing Yoruba mythology, finding it both humbling and extraordinary, elegiac and inspiriting. Bankole moves from truth to shattering truth giving her characters the empathy and attention we all deserve. I savored every line of the arresting prose and ended this book yearning for more from this incredibly talented writer." -Vanessa Walters, author of The Nigerwife

"The Edge of Water is a beautifully realized epic tale following the lives of three generations of women across two continents. Bankole expertly explores tenderness and heartache without sentimentality. This is a stunning addition to the canon of diasporic tales." -Maurice Carlos Ruffin, author of The American Daughters

"An artfully constructed, beautifully told, and utterly moving book. A thrilling debut." -Jami Attenberg, author of A Reason to See You Again

"In exploring what happens when we reject our given...


Available Editions

EDITION Other Format
ISBN 9781963108057
PRICE $17.95 (USD)
PAGES 272

Available on NetGalley

NetGalley Shelf App (PDF)
Send to Kindle (PDF)
Download (PDF)

Average rating from 6 members


Readers who liked this book also liked: