{"product_id":"the-road-to-the-salt-sea-9780063050860","title":"The Road to the Salt Sea","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWINNER OF THE 2025 WHITING AWARD FOR FICTION\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePEN\/HEMINGWAY AWARD FINALIST - ASPEN WORDS LITERARY PRIZE LONGLIST\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAs wrenching and luminous as Omar El Akkad's \u003cem\u003eWhat Strange Paradise\u003c\/em\u003e and Mohsin Hamid's \u003cem\u003eExit West, \u003c\/em\u003e a searing exploration of the global migration crisis that moves from Nigeria to Libya to Italy, from an exciting new literary voice.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAble God works for low pay at a four-star hotel where he must flash his \"toothpaste-white smile\" for wealthy guests. When not tending to the hotel's overprivileged clientele, he muses over self-help books and draws life lessons from the game of chess.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBut Able's ordinary life is upended when an early morning room service order leads him to interfere with Akudo, a sex worker involved with a powerful but dangerous hotel guest. Suddenly caught in a web of violence, guilt, and fear, Able must run to save himself--a journey that takes him into the desert with a group of drug-addled migrants, headed by a charismatic religious leader calling himself Ben Ten. The travelers' dream of reaching Europe--and a new life--is shattered when they fall prey to human traffickers, suffer starvation, and find themselves on the precipice of death, fighting for their lives and their freedom.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAs Able God moves into the treacherous unknown, his consciousness becomes focused on survival and the foundations of his beliefs--his ideas about betterment and salvation--are forever altered. Suspenseful, incisive, and illuminating, \u003cem\u003eThe Road to the Salt Sea\u003c\/em\u003e is a story of family, fate, religion, survival, the failures of the Nigerian class system, and what often happens to those who seek their fortunes elsewhere.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eKolawole, Samuel:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cp\u003eSamuel Kọ´láwọlé was born and raised in Ibadan, Nigeria. His debut novel, \u003cem\u003eThe Road to the Salt Sea\u003c\/em\u003e, won the 2025 Whiting Award for Fiction, was a finalist for the 2025 PEN\/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel and the International Book Awards, and was longlisted for the 2025 Aspen Words Literary Prize. Other honors for his work include being a finalist for the Caine Prize for African Writing, the Graywolf Press Africa Prize, and the UK's First Novel Prize. He studied at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, and holds a Master of Arts degree in Creative Writing with distinction from Rhodes University, South Africa; is a graduate of the MFA in Writing and Publishing at Vermont College of Fine Arts; and earned his PhD in English and Creative Writing from Georgia State University. He teaches fiction writing full-time as an assistant professor of English and African studies at Pennsylvania State University. He recently joined the Warren Wilson College MFA Program for Writers as a faculty member.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Amistad Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51453501473042,"sku":"9780063050860","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_8c265edd-d5ad-4404-aecf-2a357d504253.jpg?v=1751971122","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/the-road-to-the-salt-sea-9780063050860","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}