An Unusual Grief

How do you get to know your daughter when she is dead? This is the question that haunts Mojisola as she grapples with the sudden loss of her daughter, Yinka, and the unresolved fractures in their relationship. Mojisola is forced to confront the dysfunctions of her life that have led her to this point, evading her errant husband and mourning their estranged daughter alone. Mojisola's grief takes her from Cape Town to Johannesburg where she holes up in Yinka's apartment, unearthing the life that she had built for herself there. Walking a mile in Yinka's shoes, Mojisola slips into a clandestine underworld, where she learns to break free from the bondage of the labels, wife and mother. In this new world of feline companionship, reignited talents and unlikely friendships, including with Yinka's acerbic landlady Zelda, Mojisola's understanding of life, and her place within it, is built anew. A bold and unflinching tale of one woman's unconventional approach to life and loss.

Yewande Omotoso trained as an architect. Her debut novel Bom Boy was shortlisted for the 2012 Sunday Times Fiction Prize in South Africa. Yewande was shortlisted for the 2013 Etisalat Prize for Literature. Her second novel, Woman Next Door, was longlisted for the 2017 Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction. In 2018, it was shortlisted for the International DUBLIN Literary Award and a finalist in the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award for Fiction. It has been translated into Catalan, Dutch, French, German. Italian and Korean. She currently lives in Johannesburg.