{"product_id":"things-they-lost-9781982102579","title":"Things They Lost","description":"\u003cb\u003eNamed a Most Anticipated Book by \u003ci\u003eVogue \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eVulture\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"Alternately whimsical, sweet, and dark,\" this astonishing debut novel about a lonely girl waiting for her mother \"brim[s] with uncompromisingly African magical realism\" (\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e).\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAyosa is a wandering spirit--joyous, exuberant, filled to the brim with longing. Her only companions in her grandmother's crumbling house are as lonely as Ayosa herself: the ghostly Fatumas, whose eyes are the size of bay windows, who teach her to dance and wail at the death news; the Jolly-Annas, cruel birds who cover their solitude with spiteful laughter; the milkman, who never greets Ayosa and whose milk tastes of mud; and Sindano, the kind owner of a café no one ever visits. Unexpectedly, miraculously, one day Ayosa finds a friend. Yet she is always fixed on her beautiful mama, Nabumbo Promise: a mysterious and aloof photographer, she comes and goes as she pleases, with no apology or warning. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eSet at the intersection of the spirit world and the human one, \u003ci\u003eThings They Lost \u003c\/i\u003esets out a rich and magical vision of \"girlhood as a time of complexity, laced with unparalleled creativity and expansion\" (\u003ci\u003eVogue\u003c\/i\u003e). Heartbreaking, elegant, and written in \"giddily exuberant prose\" (\u003ci\u003eFinancial Times\u003c\/i\u003e), it's a story about connection, coming-of-age, and the dizzying dualities of love at its most intoxicating and all-encompassing.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOkwiri Oduor was born in Nairobi, Kenya. Her short story \"My Father's Head\u003ci\u003e\" \u003c\/i\u003ewon the 2014 Caine Prize for African Writing. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in \u003ci\u003eGranta\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe New Inquiry\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eKwani\u003c\/i\u003e, and elsewhere. She has been a fellow at MacDowell and Art Omi and a visiting writer at the Lannan Center. Oduor has an MFA in creative writing from the Iowa Writers' Workshop. She currently lives in Germany.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Scribner Book Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50525683319058,"sku":"9781982102579","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_e6b40ecc-b65c-442a-9cb4-34233fbdd6d8.jpg?v=1731232796","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/things-they-lost-9781982102579","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}