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Ghostroots: Stories
'Pemi Aguda
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Finalist for the 2024 National Book Award for Fiction
Includes the story “Breastmilk,” shortlisted for the 2024 Caine Prize for African Writing.
A Time Must-Read Book of 2024.
A debut collection of stories set in a hauntingly reimagined Lagos where characters vie for freedom from ancestral ties. In this beguiling collection of twelve imaginative stories set in Lagos, Nigeria, ’Pemi Aguda dramatizes the tension between our yearning to be individuals and the ways we are haunted by what came before.
In “Manifest,” a woman sees the ghost of her abusive mother in her daughter’s face. Shortly after, the daughter is overtaken by wicked and destructive impulses. In “Breastmilk,” a wife forgives her husband for his infidelity. Months later, when she is unable to produce milk for her newborn, she blames herself for failing to uphold her mother’s feminist values and doubts her fitness for motherhood. In “Things Boys Do,” a trio of fathers finds something unnatural and unnerving about their infant sons. As their lives rapidly fall to pieces, they begin to fear that their sons are the cause of their troubles. And in “24, Alhaji Williams Street,” a teenage boy lives in the shadow of a mysterious disease that’s killing the boys on his street.
These and other stories in Ghostroots map emotional and physical worlds that lay bare the forces of family, myth, tradition, gender, and modernity in Nigerian society. Powered by a deep empathy and glinting with humor, they announce a major new literary talent.
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Posts about this title from Celestial
Celestial\ \ Steph\ \ • Feb 17
💭 are you a weird book lover?
welcome to WEIRDO WINTER. let’s yap about some peculiar & unsettling reads.
📚 books mentioned: - Herculine by Grace Byron - Ghostroots: Stories by ‘Pemi Aguda - The Last Tale of the Flower Bride by Roshani Chokshi
👗💄: - dress is from If By Sea (rented from Nuuly) - necklace is Solstice Gemstone from Christin Marie Studio - eyeshadow is Ellis Atlantis Palette from Blend Bunny Cosmetics and The Spring Symphony Palette from Dandy Lion Cosmetics - lip combo is Staining Lip Liner (Platonic) from Kulfi Beauty and Gloss Up Sheer Finish Lip Gloss (Well Read) from The Lip Bar - (also if you have a question about my makeup or something i’m wearing, most of it is curated in my shopmy!)
thank you to Saga Press and William Morrow for the gifted copies!
#weirdbooks #horrorbooks #fantasybooks #nycinfluencer #bookstagram @sagapressbooks @w.w.norton @williammorrowbooks @blendbunnycosmetics @dandylionsco @christinmariestudio @kulfi.beauty @thelipbar @ifbysea.la
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weird books • weird girl lit • strange books • unusual books • horror book recs • fantasy horror books • disturbing books • book recommendations • unique book recs • diverse books • W.W. Norton and Company
3 books
Celestial\ \ Steph\ \ • Feb 9 2025
one star reviews of books i loved!
which one convinced you the most? 🫢 part twenty of one star goodreads reviews of books i enjoyed!
📚 books mentioned: - I Was a Teenage Slasher by Stephen Graham Jones - Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin - The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin - Circe by Madeline Miller - Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir - The Eyes Are the Best Part by Monika Kim - Ghostroots: Stories by ‘Pemi Aguda - Nimona by N. D. Stevenson
#onestarreviews #negativebookreview #bookreviews #goodreadsreviews #bookhumor #nycinfluencer #bookstagram #starrysteph
7 books
1
Celestial\ \ Steph\ \ • Dec 28 2024
🥒 it’s been WAY TOO LONG since i dropped a bounty of pickle books for you all!
📚 books mentioned: - Ghostroots by ‘Pemi Aguda - I Was a Teenage Slasher by Stephen Graham Jones - Monstrilio by Gerardo Sámano Cordova
pickle books are something i totally made up and i am trying to force into the literary zietgeist 🤭. they’re books that leave you with a sour afteraste, but in a positive way.
#picklebooks #picklebookrecs #disturbingbooks #hauntingbooks #horrorbooks #starrysteph #nycinfluencer #bookstagram #IGShareYourPassion @w.w.norton @sagapressbooks @zandoprojects
3 books
1
Celestial\ \ Steph\ \ • Dec 7 2024
book recs to gift your horror loving reader friends!
book recs to gift your horror loving reader friends!
📚 books mentioned: - Ghostroots by ‘Pemi Aguda - The Unfinished by Cheryl Isaacs - I Was a Teenage Slasher by Stephen Graham Jones - Monstrilio by Gerardo Sámano Córdova - Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah - Black Sheep by Rachel Harrison - Delicate Condition by Danielle Valentine - Vampires of El Norte by Isabel Cañas - The Last Tale of the Flower Bride by Roshani Chokshi
and before you all ask, the incredible Bunnicula shirt is from Out of Print. yes, you all need one, too!!! @outofprint
#horrorbook #horrorbookrecs #horrorbooktok #outofprint #gifted #outofprintpartner #starrysteph #nycinfluencer #bookstagram
9 books
Celestial\ \ Steph\ \ • Nov 23 2024
happy National Book Awards day! will you be tuning in tonight?
these books were gifted to me by The National Book Foundation and Meta/Threads. they let me pick out any three finalists, and it was a hard choice, but I obviously loved all of my selections!
3 books
Celestial\ \ Steph\ \ • Nov 23 2024
another successful weekend readathon! i joined in between work and a couple of other things and still managed to read four wonderful books.
these readathons are totally text based and are so much fun. it’s great to read in community and hold each other lightly accountable! i still have SO much reading to catch up on.
also shout out to Out of Print for the coziest reading socks!!
4 books
Posts about this book from across Bindery
Celestial\ \ Steph\ \ • Feb 17
💭 are you a weird book lover?
welcome to WEIRDO WINTER. let’s yap about some peculiar & unsettling reads.
📚 books mentioned: - Herculine by Grace Byron - Ghostroots: Stories by ‘Pemi Aguda - The Last Tale of the Flower Bride by Roshani Chokshi
thank you to Saga Press and William Morrow for the gifted copies!
.
3 books
JemilaBeReadin\ \ JemilaBeReadin\ \ • Feb 20 2025
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a great reading month and a not so great one
You can find trigger/content warnings here: \* Storygraph \* https://booktriggerwarnings.com/index.php?title=Welcome
PETITIONS & FUNDRAISERS: \* Support Palestine: https://linktr.ee/resourcesforpalestine \* Operation Olive Branch: https://www.instagram.com/operationolivebranch/?hl=en \* Black Lives Matter: https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/ \* Around the World: https://the2020world.carrd.co/ \* Help the Quileute Tribe Move to High Ground: https://mthg.org/ \* Tigray Crisis: https://linktr.ee/Tigraycrisis
FIND ME ELSEWHERE: 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jemilabereadin/ 🤳🏾 TikTok: https://vm.tiktok.com/TTPdMBQSbg/ 🐥 Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/jemilando 📚 Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/4150099-jemila 📧 Email: jemilabereadin@gmail.com
OUTRO: \* Outro Music by Sejji Bonz https://bit.ly/3oG668L \* Outro Template by Sukhasha Dhar https://bit.ly/3nEQHED
12 books
4
JemilaBeReadin\ \ JemilaBeReadin\ \ • Feb 20 2025
Join for free
You can find trigger/content warnings here: \* Storygraph \* https://booktriggerwarnings.com/index.php?title=Welcome
OUTRO: \* Outro Music by Sejji Bonz https://bit.ly/3oG668L \* Outro Template by Sukhasha Dhar https://bit.ly/3nEQHED
22 books
4
Celestial\ \ Steph\ \ • Feb 9 2025
one star reviews of books i loved!
which one convinced you the most? 🫢 part twenty of one star goodreads reviews of books i enjoyed!
#onestarreviews #negativebookreview #bookreviews #goodreadsreviews #bookhumor #nycinfluencer #bookstagram #starrysteph
7 books
1
Celestial\ \ Steph\ \ • Dec 28 2024
🥒 it’s been WAY TOO LONG since i dropped a bounty of pickle books for you all!
📚 books mentioned: - Ghostroots by ‘Pemi Aguda - I Was a Teenage Slasher by Stephen Graham Jones - Monstrilio by Gerardo Sámano Cordova
3 books
1
Celestial\ \ Steph\ \ • Dec 7 2024
book recs to gift your horror loving reader friends!
book recs to gift your horror loving reader friends!
and before you all ask, the incredible Bunnicula shirt is from Out of Print. yes, you all need one, too!!! @outofprint
#horrorbook #horrorbookrecs #horrorbooktok #outofprint #gifted #outofprintpartner #starrysteph #nycinfluencer #bookstagram
9 books
Celestial\ \ Steph\ \ • Nov 23 2024
happy National Book Awards day! will you be tuning in tonight?
3 books
Celestial\ \ Steph\ \ • Nov 23 2024
another successful weekend readathon! i joined in between work and a couple of other things and still managed to read four wonderful books.
also shout out to Out of Print for the coziest reading socks!!
4 books