Celestial | Vagabonds!
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Vagabonds!
Eloghosa Osunde
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NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORKER. LONGLISTED FOR THE CENTER FOR FICTION FIRST NOVEL PRIZE AND THE VCU CABELL FIRST NOVELIST AWARD.
“If you read one debut novel in 2022, this should be it.” —Los Angeles Times.
In the bustling streets and cloistered homes of Lagos, a cast of vivid characters—some haunted, some defiant—navigate danger, demons, and love in a quest to lead true lives. As in Nigeria, vagabonds are those whose existence is literally outlawed: the queer, the poor, the displaced, the footloose and rogue spirits. They are those who inhabit transient spaces, who make their paths and move invisibly, who embrace apparitions, old vengeances and alternative realities.
Eloghosa Osunde's brave, fiercely inventive novel traces a wild array of characters for whom life itself is a form of resistance: a driver for a debauched politician with the power to command life and death; a legendary fashion designer who gives birth to a grown daughter; a lesbian couple whose tender relationship sheds unexpected light on their experience with underground sex work; a wife and mother who attends a secret spiritual gathering that shifts her world.
As their lives intertwine—in bustling markets and underground clubs, churches and hotel rooms—vagabonds are seized and challenged by spirits who command the city's dark energy. Whether running from danger, meeting with secret lovers, finding their identities, or vanquishing their shadowselves, Osunde's characters confront and support one another, before converging for the once-in-a-lifetime gathering that gives the book its unexpectedly joyous conclusion.
Blending unvarnished realism with myth and fantasy, Vagabonds! is a vital work of imagination that takes us deep inside the hearts, minds, and bodies of a people in duress—and in triumph.
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Posts about this title from Celestial
💭 do you like a weird read?
here are some fascinating, wacky, experimental, boundary-pushing queer books to fill up your TBR!
📚 books mentioned: - Vagabonds! by Eloghosa Osunde - Metal from Heaven by August Clarke - The Taking of Jake Livingston by Ryan Douglass
👗💄: - shirt is from Hill House Home - eyeshadow is In A Trance Palette from Colourpop and The Lord of the Rings Middle Earth Palette from Glamlite - eyeliner is Vegan Longwear Eyeliner (Minty) from Pacifica Beauty - mascara is Lash Extensions XL from Milani Cosmetics (top, Black) and Tartlette Tubing Mascara (bottom, Electric Blue) from Tarte Cosmetics - lip combo is Suede Matte Lip Liner (Moonwalk) from NYX Cosmetics and Softwear (Void) from Experiment Beauty - (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 Penguin Teen for the gifted copy!
#weirdbooks #uniquebooks #lbqtqbooks #nycinfluencer #bookstagram @riverheadbooks @erewhonbooks @penguinteen @hillhouse @colourpopcosmetics @glamlite @milanicosmetics @tartecosmetics @nyxcosmetics @experimentwrld
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queer books • unique queer books • weird books • fantasy books • science fiction books • speculative books • horror books • weird books • experimental books • unique books • diverse books • Erewhon Books • Riverhead Books
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Celestial\ \ Steph\ \ • Nov 20 2025
as was highly requested: (some!) adult fantasy book recs by trans authors!
as was highly requested: (some!) adult fantasy book recs by trans authors!
(i couldn’t include everything i’ve read; please don’t be too grumpy with me in the comments)
(young adult fantasy coming next!)
📚 books mentioned: - Vagabonds! by Eloghosa Osunde - The First Bright Thing by J.R. Dawson - Fate’s Bane by C.L. Clark - The Bruising of Qilwa by Naseem Jamnia - The Deep by Rivers Solomon
👗💄: - dress is from Free People, rented from Nuuly - corset is from Scarlet Darkness - eyeshadow is In A Trance palette from Colourpop - (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 Tordotcom for the gifted copy!
#fantasybooks #fantasybookrecs #adultfantasy #transauthors #transbooks #starrysteph #nycinfluencer #diversebookstagram #nycbookstagram #bookstagram #TorPartner @riverheadbooks @torbooks @tordotcompub @tachyonpub @sagapressbooks @nuuly @freepeople @scarletdarkness_brand @colourpopcosmetics
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Celestial\ \ Steph\ \ • Jun 13 2025
can you all help me blow these up? give these queer books the love they deserve!!
can you all help me blow these up? give these queer books the love they deserve!!
📚 books mentioned: - Vagabonds! by Eloghosa Osunde - Death’s Country by R.M. Romero - Hammajang Luck by Makana Yamamoto - The Skin and Its Girl by Sarah Cypher
thank you to Peachtree Teen and Harper Voyager for the free copies!
#queerbooks #queerfantasy #pridemonth #pridemonthbooks #fantasybooks #fantasybookrecs #scifibooks #starrysteph #nycinfluencer #bookstagram @riverheadbooks @peachtreeteen @harpervoyagerus @ballantinebooks
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Celestial\ \ Steph\ \ • Jan 25 2025
queer voices and stories matter and these ones (just a tiny selection of trans and nonbinary books i’ve read & loved) are phenomenal!
📚 books mentioned: - Hammajang Luck by Makana Yamamoto - Vagabonds! by Eloghosa Osunde - Hell Followed With Us by Andrew Joseph White - The Sunbearer Trials by Aiden Thomas - Junker Seven by Olive J. Kelley - Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki - The Undetectables by Courtney Smyth - An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon - Pet by Akwaeke Emezi - The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw - The Stars Undying by Emery Robin
#horrorbooks #scifibooks #fantasybooks #transbooks #nonbinarybooks #starrysteph #nycinfluencer #nycbooktok #bookstagram @harpervoyagerus @riverheadbooks @peachtreeteen @fiercereads @torbooks @titanbooks @akashicbooks @randomhousekids @faberbooks.us @tornightfire @orbitbooks_us
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Celestial\ \ Steph\ \ • Dec 28 2024
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(yes the mic was unplugged, no i don’t want to talk about it 😞, yes capcut saved my life with their vocal isolation function)
📚 books mentioned: - The Ballad of Perilous Graves by Alex Jennings - Open Throat by Henry Hoke - Vagabonds! by Eloghosa Osunder - Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado
#weirdbooks #whimsicalbooks #horrorbooks #strangebooks #fantasybooks #starrysteph #nycinfluencer #bookstagram #IGShareYourPassion @redhookbooks @orbitbooks_us @mcdbooks @riverheadbooks @graywolfpress #selkie #nuuly
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Posts about this book from across Bindery
💭 do you like a weird read?
here are some fascinating, wacky, experimental, boundary-pushing queer books to fill up your TBR!
📚 books mentioned: - Vagabonds! by Eloghosa Osunde - Metal from Heaven by August Clarke - The Taking of Jake Livingston by Ryan Douglass
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Celestial\ \ Steph\ \ • Nov 20 2025
as was highly requested: (some!) adult fantasy book recs by trans authors!
as was highly requested: (some!) adult fantasy book recs by trans authors!
(i couldn’t include everything i’ve read; please don’t be too grumpy with me in the comments)
(young adult fantasy coming next!)
thank you to Tordotcom for the gifted copy!
5 books
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Celestial\ \ Steph\ \ • Jun 13 2025
can you all help me blow these up? give these queer books the love they deserve!!
can you all help me blow these up? give these queer books the love they deserve!!
thank you to Peachtree Teen and Harper Voyager for the free copies!
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Celestial\ \ Steph\ \ • Jan 25 2025
queer voices and stories matter and these ones (just a tiny selection of trans and nonbinary books i’ve read & loved) are phenomenal!
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Celestial\ \ Steph\ \ • Dec 28 2024
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WEIRD & WHIMSICAL & WACKY BOOKS totally not a video i created just to show off the @selkie dress i rented from @nuuly. idk what you mean.
(yes the mic was unplugged, no i don’t want to talk about it 😞, yes capcut saved my life with their vocal isolation function)
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Celestial\ \ Steph\ \ • Sep 21 2024
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i read 9 books this february, and here’s a bit about all of them. what was your favorite book from february?? 📚
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