The Deep Blue Between
by Ayesha Harruna Attah
Carolrhoda Lab / Lerner
(U.S. release 2022)
This powerful portrait of fiercely independent sisters offers a rare glimpse of empowered young women in 19th-century Ghana, Nigeria, and Brazil, with the enduring bonds of family (both biological and chosen) at its core.
Twin sisters Hassana and Husseina have always shared their lives.
But after a raid on their village in 1892, the twins are torn apart. Taken in different directions, far from their home in rural West Africa, each sister finds freedom and a new start. Hassana settles in in the city of Accra, where she throws herself into working for political and social change. Husseina travels to Salvador, Brazil, where she becomes immersed in faith, worshipping spirits that bridge the motherland and the new world. Separated by an ocean, they forge new families, ward off dangers, and begin to truly know themselves.
As the twins pursue their separate paths, they remain connected through their shared dreams. But will they ever manage to find each other again?
Summary and cover image via Edelweiss
Rebel of Fire and Flight
by Aneesa Marufu
Chicken House / Scholastic
This is the story of sixteen-year-old Khadija, who flees her home in a stolen hot air balloon to escape life in an arranged marriage. A deeply relevant, commercial fantasy adventure by an enthralling new talent, exploring prejudice, the deep roots of hatred, and the reality of the world that this heroine hopes to save.
Khadija loves the ancient tales of jinn and renegade princesses… but real life is closing in and her destiny as a ghadæan girl is marriage and boredom. When her father arranges a match, Khadija leaps at the chance of escape – a rogue hot air balloon fighting its ropes for the sky. Soon, Khadija is flying over the desert sands, away from everything she knows. Khadija finds an unlikely ally in a poor young glassmaker’s apprentice, Jacob.
But soon, a deadly revolution threatens their friendship and their world. The oppressed, pale-skinned hāri are restless – their infamous terrorist group, the Hāreef, have a new, fearsome leader. And the ruling ghadæans are brutal in their repression. As the Hāreef exploit forbidden magic – summoning jinn to aid their fight – Jacob and Khadija must choose what kind of a world they want to live in and how to make it a reality.
Summary and cover image via Edelweiss
Hollow Fires
Samira Ahmed
Little, Brown / Hachette
A powerful, gripping YA novel about the insidious nature of racism, the terrible costs of unearthing hidden truths, and the undeniable power of hope, by New York Times bestselling author Samira Ahmed. Perfect for fans of Sadie and Dear Martin.
Safiya Mirza dreams of becoming a journalist. And one thing she’s learned as editor of her school newspaper is that a journalist’s job is to find the facts and not let personal biases affect the story. But all that changes the day she finds the body of a murdered boy.
Jawad Ali was fourteen years old when he built a cosplay jetpack that a teacher mistook for a bomb. A jetpack that got him arrested, labeled a terrorist—and eventually killed. But he’s more than a dead body, and more than “Bomb Boy.” He was a person with a life worth remembering.
Driven by Jawad’s haunting voice guiding her throughout her investigation, Safiya seeks to tell the whole truth about the murdered boy and those who killed him because of their hate-based beliefs.
This gripping and powerful book uses an innovative format and lyrical prose to expose the evil that exists in front of us, and the silent complicity of the privileged who create alternative facts to bend the truth to their liking.
Cover image and summary via Edelweiss