“Mary-Alice Daniel has created a radiant, multi-faceted, multi-genre narrative. Part myth, magic, memoir, remembrance, and whispered quilt, this book tackles lineage, fear, and difficulty with a hard-won elegance and grace. A powerful debut from a brilliant and gifted writer." — Chris Abani, author of The Secret History of Las Vegas and Smoking the Bible
"Mary-Alice Daniel's memoir is an introspection on the meaning of home and family and identity and race. Deeply personal, yet so relatable, especially to those who've had to leave a country. In places it brings to mind the best writings of Jhumpa Lahiri. Mary-Alice is a major talent to watch." — Helon Habila, author of Travelers and The Chibok Girls
“Mary-Alice Daniel can make a story shimmer with life; she can make an image leap off the page; she can make you want to read a sentence out loud just so your mouth can feel its sounds. Make room on your bookshelves: a dazzling new voice has arrived.” — Anne Fadiman, author of The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down and The Wine Lover’s Daughter
"A powerful memoir...Throughout the enchanting narrative, Daniel vividly shares her and her family’s traditions, customs, and religious views...An absolutely fascinating work from a gifted storyteller." — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"In her incandescent debut, Nigerian poet Daniel recounts her life on three continents, surrounded by stories that made up the fabric of her African upbringing...This is a gem." — Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Wondrous...One can’t help but be overwhelmed by the exquisiteness of [Daniel’s] prose, which we sense has been pulled from the deepest regions of her heart...Mary-Alice Daniel is an exquisitely elegant young writer.” — New York Journal of Books
"...writing so beautiful it's worth the price of admission...Readers who enjoyed memoirs like Albert Samaha's Concepcion (2021) will love this.” — Booklist (starred review)
“The poet Mary-Alice Daniel’s scholarly parents left Nigeria in their 20s; to her boisterous family, the U.K. looked ‘like all color had been boiled out of it.’ Their resettlement set off a strain of restlessness in Daniel’s life, one she mines for insight in her memoir. Her account of their continued moves, and of West Africa’s knotty postcolonial scene, is lucid and poetic.” — Vulture
“A melodious exploration of Nigeria . . . A breathtaking story of tracing history and finding home.” — People (Book of the Week)
“Striking, discerning and haunting….Read this book once for the furious beauty of Daniel’s prose. Read it again for a master class in how we might finally come to tell our stories on our own terms.” — New York Times Book Review