Butterfly Fish by Irenosen Okojie
A fragile outsider living in London, Joy struggles to pull the threads of her life back together after her mother's sudden death. As family secrets come to light, she unearths the ties between her mother, grandfather, the wife of the king, a fearsome warrior, and a brass head's pivotal connection to them all.
Butterfly Fish is a novel of epic proportions.. From sentence to sentence, Okojie conjures up acutely observed, beautifully-worded metaphors that resonate and delight... I fully expect to see Butterfly Fish on many an award nomination list. It is a fascinating read, and one I highly recommend. * Yvette Edwards (author of A Cupboard Full of Coats, longlisted for the Man Booker Prize, and The Mother), Words of Colour *
Her West African heritage is richly spun into her novel Butterfly Fish... The tale is peppered with moments of magical surrealism: a glass bottle shattering on a South London street to release two tiny scurrying figures into the night; a butterfly fish bursts into a local pool and belches a portentous brass key... The lyrical prose brings poignancy to the familiar London landscape. * Samuel Fishwick, Evening Standard *
Vital, vivid, witty, truthful... * Maggie Gee, The Observer *
Her West African heritage is richly spun into her novel Butterfly Fish... The tale is peppered with moments of magical surrealism: a glass bottle shattering on a South London street to release two tiny scurrying figures into the night; a butterfly fish bursts into a local pool and belches a portentous brass key... The lyrical prose brings poignancy to the familiar London landscape. * Samuel Fishwick, Evening Standard *
Vital, vivid, witty, truthful... * Maggie Gee, The Observer *
Irenosen Okojie is a Nigerian British author whose work pushes the boundaries of form, language and ideas. Her novel, Butterfly Fish, and short story collections, Speak Gigantular and Nudibranch, have won and been nominated for multiple awards. Her journalism has been featured in The New York Times, the Observer, the Guardian and the Huffington Post. She is a Contributing Editor for The White Review as well as And Other Stories. She co-presented the BBC's Turn Up for The Books podcast, alongside Simon Savidge and Bastille frontman Dan Smith. Her work has been optioned for the screen. She has also judged various literary prizes including the Dylan Thomas Prize, the Gordon Burn Prize, the BBC National Short Story Award and the Dublin Literary Award. She was a judge for the 2023 Women's Prize for Fiction. Formerly the Vice Chair of the Royal Society of Literature, she was awarded an MBE For Services to Literature in 2021. She is the director and founder of Black to the Future festival. Her new novel Curandera is published by Dialogue Books.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781909762060 |
| ISBN 10 | 1909762067 |
| Title | Butterfly Fish |
| Author | Irenosen Okojie |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Jacaranda Books Art Music Ltd |
| Year published | 2015-06-29 |
| Number of pages | 352 |
| Prizes | Winner of a Betty Trask Award 2016 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |