At Masobe Books, we are dedicated to bringing powerful and compelling stories to readers everywhere. In dedication to this mission, we are excited to announce the acquisition of three phenomenal manuscripts to add to our growing roster of accomplished authors. These are the voices that are challenging the status quo, breaking barriers, and creating a literary legacy that will inspire generations to come.
Ore Agbaje-Williams
The Three of Us is Agbaje-Williams’ debut novel. It is a sharp domestic comedy of manners exploring the long-standing tensions between a husband, his wife, and her best friend over the course of one day.
The wife has it all. A big house in a nice neighbourhood, a ride-or-die snarky friend with whom to laugh about facile men, and an affectionate husband who loves her above all else. The only thing missing from this portrait is a baby. But motherhood is a serious undertaking, especially for the wife who has valued her selfhood above all else.
On a seemingly normal day, the best friend comes over to spend a lazy afternoon with the wife. But when the husband comes home and a series of confessions are made that threaten to throw everything off balance, the wife’s two confidantes are suddenly forced to jockey for their positions. Told in three taut, mesmerizing parts—the wife, the husband, the best friend—the day quickly unfolds to show how the trio’s dented visions of each other finally unravel, throwing everyone’s integrity into question – and their long-drawn-out territorial dance, carefully constructed over pivotal years, into utter chaos.
The Three of Us has been critically appraised as:
“[A] striking, often wickedly funny debut . . . Agbaje-Williams brilliantly captures the inner monologue as well as the conversational style of each of the three through which their whole cultural milieu takes shape around them . . . An original and potent comedy of manners with an ingenious final twist.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“[An] intoxicating debut…It’s delicious to watch the characters’ long-fermenting tensions come to the fore. It lands as a discerning debut from an author who knows a thing or two (or three) about the ever-shifting dynamics of intimacy.” —Publishers Weekly
Both wickedly entertaining and thought-provoking. I couldn’t stop turning the page!” —Lizzie Damilola Blackburn, author of Yinka, Where Is Your Huzband?
About the Author
Ore Agbaje-Williams is a Brithish-Nigerian Author and Editor who has written for several magazines including Glamour UK, Gals-dem and Wasafiri Magazine. The Three of Us is her debut novel.
Adam Oyebanji
A Quiet Teacher is Oyebanji’s second fast-paced, tense novel, about a language teacher with a hidden past who gets pulled into a murder investigation at the prestigious school where he teaches, putting him in danger as he fights to clear his friend’s name.
Greg Abimbola is a language teacher at the prestigious Calderhill Academy in Pittsburgh. Only that’s not his real name . . . or the only secret he’s hiding. Greg has a closetful. When the murder of a wealthy parent on school premises shines an unwanted spotlight on Calderhill Academy, Greg is determined to avoid attention. That is until the closest person to a true friend Greg has is arrested for the murder. To prove her innocence, Greg will reluctantly emerge from the shadows. But doing so will put him in danger. His past is determined to find him . . . and his past is full of very bad things.
A Quiet Teacher has been critically appraised as:
“A tense and topical thriller” ― The Times
“Oyebanji’s hero is complicated and sure to win readers’ sympathies” ― Kirkus Reviews
“Imagine John le Carré attempting an Agatha Christie mystery. Or the other way around. In any case, that mix is at the heart of this stunning novel” ― Booklist Starred Review
About the Author
Adam Oyebanji is a versatile author and a member of both the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association and the British Science Fiction Association. Born in Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire, he has lived in various places, including Birmingham, London, Lagos, Chicago, Pittsburgh, and New York. Adam graduated from Birmingham University and Harvard Law School and works in the field of counter-terrorist financing. He is the author of the Canopus-Award-shortlisted SF novel, Braking Day, and the critically acclaimed murder mystery, A Quiet Teacher.
Leila Aboulela
River Spirit is a powerful historical novel that follows the lives of Akuany, Bol, and Yaseen, as they navigate their way through love, freedom, safety, and the fight for Sudan’s independence.
When Akuany and her brother Bol are orphaned in a village raid in South Sudan, they’re taken in by a young merchant Yaseen who promises to care for them, a vow that tethers him to Akuany through their adulthood. As a revolutionary leader rises to power – the self-proclaimed Mahdi, prophesied redeemer of Islam – Sudan begins to slip from the grasp of Ottoman rule, and everyone must choose a side. A scholar of the Qur’an, Yaseen feels beholden to stand against this false Mahdi, even as his choice splinters his family. Meanwhile, Akuany moves through her young adulthood and across the country alone, sold and traded from house to house, with Yaseen as her inconsistent lifeline. Everything each of them is striving for – love, freedom, safety – is all on the line in the fight for Sudan.
River Spirit has been critically appraised as:
“Action-packed. Aboulela casts a scrutinous and perceptive eye on the motives of religious leaders and colonial forces, and she layers the narrative with a rich blend of languages and cultures. This brims with drama and nuance.”—Publishers Weekly
“Rich and moving… captivating.”—Kirkus
“A novel of extraordinary sympathy and insight… a wonderful achievement.”—Abdulrazak Gurnah, Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature
About the Author
Leila Aboulela is the first-ever winner of the Caine Prize for African Writing. Nominated three times for the Orange Prize (now the Women’s Prize for Fiction), she is the author of numerous novels, including Bird Summons, The Kindness of Enemies, The Translator, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, Minaret and Lyrics Alley, which was Fiction Winner of the Scottish Book Awards. Her collection of short stories Elsewhere, Home won the Saltire Fiction Book of the Year. Leila’s work has been translated into fifteen languages, and her plays The Insider, The Mystic Life and others were broadcast on BBC Radio. She grew up in Khartoum, Sudan, and now lives in Aberdeen, Scotland.
The books are scheduled for release in the third quarter of 2023. Specific publication dates and cover reveals will be announced in the coming weeks. For more information, please contact: Theresa Ominiabohs at 07018383286, email: info@masobebooks.com, follow us @Masobebooks on Instagram and Twitter, or visit the Masobe Books website at www.masobebooks.com