Rosanna Amaka

The Book Of Echoes
- Rosanna Amaka
A sweeping, uplifting and inspirational story of how a boy from Brixton and a girl from Lagos reinvent their lives in modern-day London.

'So bewitching I almost felt like I time-travelled back into Brixton 1981. A gorgeous book' ALEX WHEATLE
'Impassioned. Lyrical and affecting' OBSERVER
'Powerfully redemptive' INDEPENDENT
'Fierce and poignant' TATLER

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1981: England looks forward to a new decade. But on the streets of Brixton, it’s hard to hold onto your dreams, especially if you are a young black man. Racial tensions rumble, and now Michael Watson might land in jail for a crime he did not commit.

Thousands of miles away, village girl Ngozi abandons her orange stall for the opportunity to work as a housemaid for a middle-class family.

From dusty tracks to gritty pavements, Ngozi and Michael’s journey towards a better life is strewn with heartache. When they finally collide, their lives will be transformed for ever.

With irresistible joy and grace, Rosanna Amaka writes of people moving between worlds, and asks how we can heal and help each other. Humming with beauty and horror, tragedy and triumph, THE BOOK OF ECHOES is a powerful debut from an authentic new voice in British fiction

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'A searing, rhapsodic novel. Filled with beauty, devastation and the power of ancestral connections that ripple through the ages' IRENOSEN OKOJIE

'ABSORBING' SUNDAY EXPRESS

'IMPRESSIVE' MAIL ON SUNDAY

'POWERFULLY REDEMPTIVE' INDEPENDENT

'FIERCE AND POIGNANT' TATLER

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Readers’ love THE BOOK OF ECHOES:

‘A powerful and honest debut which is going to stay with me for a long time’ ****

‘You can feel Amaka’s passion rising off the page’ ****

‘BRILLIANT, thoughtful and masterfully crafted’ *****

‘Deeply affecting and beautifully written’ *****

‘Amaka weaves threads of stories over generations and continents with ease and polish’ *****

‘An exquisitely beautiful piece of writing’ *****

‘Oh my goodness, the book itself is even more beautiful and haunting than the cover’ *****

ROSANNA AMAKA was born to African and Caribbean parents. She began writing THE BOOK OF ECHOES twenty years ago to give voice to the Brixton community in which she grew up. Her community was fast disappearing – as a result of gentrification, emigration back to the Caribbean and Africa, or simply with the passing away of the older generation. Its depiction of unimaginable pain redeemed by love and hope was also inspired by a wish to understand the impact of history on present-day lives. Rosanna Amaka lives in South London. This is her first novel.