
Transcendent Kingdom: Shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2021 (Hardback)
Yaa Gyasi (author)Published: 04/03/2021

A much-anticipated second novel from the award-winning author of Homegoing, Transcendent Kingdom charts the experiences of a Ghanaian immigrant family in modern America.
Shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2021
As a child Gifty would ask her parents to tell the story of their journey from Ghana to Alabama, seeking escape in myths of heroism and romance. When her father and brother succumb to the hard reality of immigrant life in the American South, their family of four becomes two - and the life Gifty dreamed of slips away.
Years later, desperate to understand the opioid addiction that destroyed her brother's life, she turns to science for answers. But when her mother comes to stay, Gifty soon learns that the roots of their tangled traumas reach farther than she ever thought. Tracing her family's story through continents and generations will take her deep into the dark heart of modern America.
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
ISBN: 9780241433379
Number of pages: 256
Weight: 461 g
Dimensions: 240 x 162 x 26 mm
MEDIA REVIEWS
'A powerful, wholly unsentimental novel about family love, loss, belonging and belief that is more focused but just as daring as its predecessor, and to my mind even more successful.' - The Wall Street Journal
'I would say that Transcendent Kingdom is a novel for our time (and it is) but it is so much more than that. It is a novel for all times. The splendor and heart and insight and brilliance contained in the pages holds up a light the rest of us can follow.' - Ann Patchett
'Absolutely transcendent. A gorgeously woven narrative about a woman trying to survive the grief of a brother lost to addiction and a mother trapped in depression while pursuing her ambitions. Not a word or idea out of place. Completely different from Homegoing. THE RANGE. I am quite angry this is so good.' - Roxane Gay
'With deft agility and undeniable artistry, Gyasi's latest is an eloquent examination of resilient survival.' - Booklist
'Meticulous, psychologically complex ... At once a vivid evocation of the immigrant experience and a sharp delineation of an individual's inner struggle, the novel brilliantly succeeds on both counts.' - Publishers Weekly, starred review
'Gyasi's second novel, Transcendent Kingdom, is a very different book, and, I think, a better one - contemporary, personal, acutely focused on a single family, and intensely felt.' - The New Yorker
'The range Gyasi displays in just two books is staggering.' - USA Today
'Remarkable, a devastating account of America ... explores horror without ever losing sight of humanity or hope.' - The Sunday Times on Homegoing
'A stirringly gifted writer. It's impossible not to admire the ambition and scope of Homegoing.' - The New York Times
'If you want to know why the world is this way, try this book for starters.' - Naomi Alderman, author of The Power
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“Simply brilliant.”
“Homegoing” was one of my favourite debuts but Yaa Gyasi’s second novel “ Transcendent Kingdom” literally blew me away.
The first hand narrative of Gifty is perfect to tell the story of a child grew up with stories...
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“An absolutely sublime meditation on life and all its intricacies”
Transcendent Kingdom is an absolute stunner of a book. It is quiet, it is reflective, it is questioning, and it is beautiful. There isn’t much plot, and there aren’t many characters, so if that’s what you like, skip... More
“Brilliant exploration of what forms an individual”
Transcendent Kingdom is a beautiful book examining the relationship that the protagonist GIfty has with God and religion through the passage of her life. Certain key moments drive the narrative with the death of her... More
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