New York Daily News 'Okparanta is an unpretentious writer, but her ambition comes through in the lives she renders-young Nigerian women divided between home and a new world.' Okparanta guides you through her stories with lovely, surreal, haunting clarity.” “Full of movement…These tales will break your heart open.

The Guardian's Best African Fiction of 2013Ģ012 United States Artists Fellowship Nominated Author ¶ “The work of a sure and gifted new writer.'-Julie OtsukaĢ014 New York Public Library Young Lions Award FinalistĢ014 Rolex Mentors and Protégés Arts Initiative Finalist in LiteratureĢ014 Lambda Awards General Lesbian Fiction FinalistĢ013 Society of Midland Authors Award FinalistĢ013 Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award, Long-listedĢ013 Caine Prize in African Writing FinalistĮditors' Choice, New York Times Book Review

Spanning generations, transcending social strata, and crossing the boundaries between duty and desire, the stories in this collection are rendered with “such strength and intimacy, such lucidity and composure, that in each and every case the truths of their lives detonate deep inside the reader’s heart, with the power and force of revelation' (Paul Harding). You’ll meet mothers who will go to the ends of the earth for their children and daughters who will love whomever they want-even if that means risking everything, even their own lives. What does happiness look like for the women in this acclaimed debut collection? Here is a cast of characters, in their Nigerian homeland and abroad, who whose world is marked by lush landscapes, historical legend and lively folktales, and the search for identity at all costs. A triumphant collection of stories centered on Nigerian women as they build lives out of love and longing, the struggle to stay and the mandate to leave, by an award-winning writer who “is a certainly a voice to watch, and clearly deserves a place on any bookshelf beside fellow Nigerian authors Achebe and Adichie' (Bustle).

Happiness like water