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Creatures of Passage

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Creatures of Passage by Morowa Yejide

As seen:

  • Women's Prize for Fiction 2022

By Morowa Yejide

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1 review

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Nephthys Kinwell is a taxi driver of sorts in Washington, DC, ferrying ill-fated passengers in a haunted car: a 1967 Plymouth Belvedere with a ghost in the trunk. Endless rides and alcohol help her manage her grief over the death of her twin brother, Osiris, who was murdered and dumped in the Anacostia River.

Unknown to Nephthys when the novel opens in 1977, her estranged great-nephew, ten-year-old Dash, is finding himself drawn to the banks of that very same river. It is there that Dash-reeling from having witnessed an act of molestation at his school, but still questioning what and who he saw-has charmed conversations with a mysterious figure he calls the “River Man,” who somehow appears each time he goes there.

When Dash arrives unexpectedly at Nephthys’s door one day bearing a cryptic note about his unusual conversations with the River Man, Nephthys must face both the family she abandoned and what frightens her most when she looks in the mirror.

Reviews

12 Jul 2022

Annette

A completely different, genre-bending novel. Part ghost story, part fantasy, part magical realism and partly a hard-hitting story about abuse and the damage it does, love and thepower it has, loss, revenge and healing. A fantastic, beautifully written book.

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