An emotionally riveting novel for fans of Ibi Zoboi and Erika L. Sánchez about two sisters in Nigeria on their journey to break free of an oppressive home.
Sisters Cheta and Zam couldn’t be more different. Cheta, sharp-tongued and stubborn, never shies away from conflict—either at school or at home, where her mother fires abuse at her. Timid Zam escapes most of her mother’s anger, skating under the radar and avoiding her sister whenever possible. In a turn of good fortune, Zam is invited to live with her aunt’s family in the lap of luxury. Jealous, Cheta also leaves home, but to a harder existence that will drive her to terrible decisions. When the sisters are reunited, Zam alone will recognize just how far Cheta has fallen—and Cheta’s fate will rest in Zam’s hands.
Debut author Rimma Onoseta deftly explores classism, colorism, cycles of abuse, how loyalty doesn’t always come attached to love, and the messy truths that sometimes, family is not a source of comfort, and that morality is all shades of grey.
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Intense, immersive, absorbing. From the moment I met sisters Zam and Cheta, I was completely invested in their fates. I read compulsively as they shared their struggles with each other, their mother, and their society. A story of mothers and daughters, sisters and enemies, women and girls striving, against all odds, to break generational trauma and abuse and find their own path in life.” —Yamile Saied Méndez, Pura Belpré Award-winning author of Furia "A raw and riveting look at the complexity of sisterhood and the bonds that keep us together." —Louisa Onome, author of Like Home
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