Today’s GalleyCrush is Okezie Nwọka’s God of Mercy, forthcoming from Astra House on November 2, 2021.
Perfect pitch: “Homegoing meets Black Leopard, Red Wolf, Okezie Nwọka’s debut novel is a powerful reimagining of a history erased.”
First lines: “Nobody in Ichulu cared for the erosion. Its tired old and its tired young were rebuilding the village indifferently. Its little ones were keeping weary smiles and discarding playtime, giving skinny dogs their place in the orange mud. Its surviving cassava leaves were drinking their share of light, with folded, wrinkled chaff corrupting the cassava’s green. All in Ichulu, every person, every household, ignored the honored eagles soaring over them.”
Book buzz: “God of Mercy is a profound exploration of religion, faith, and compassion from a gifted storyteller. Okezie Nwọka creates a richly imagined postcolonial landscape that is at once otherworldly, tragically human, and completely unforgettable.” —Maisy Card
Book notes: Hardcover, fiction, 304 pages.
Cover credit: Art by Sara Wood, design by Rodrigo Corral Studio.
Author bio: Okezie Nwọka (he/they) was born and raised in Washington, D.C. They are a graduate of Brown University and attended the Iowa Writers’ Workshop as a Dean’s Graduate Research Fellow. They teach and live in their hometown.
