We wrap up book news for our readers in our regular Book Digest segment with books from Olumide Popoola, Albert Kokolomami, Dorcy Rugamba, and Sarah Dass.
Like Water Like Sea by Olumide Popoola
Publisher: Cassava Republic Press
Date: May 9, 2024
Genre: Fiction
Language: English
Where to find it:
Olumide Popoola

Olumide Popoola is a London-based Nigerian German writer and speaker who presents internationally. Her novella this is not about sadness was published by Unrast Verlag in 2010. Her play Also by Mail was published in 2013 by Witnessed (edition assemblage) and the short story collection Breach she co-authored with Annie Holmes by Peirene Press in 2016. Her first full-length novel When We Speak of Nothing was published in the UK and Nigeria in 2017 and in the US in 2018. Her publications include critical essays, narrative essays, creative non-fiction, hybrid pieces, and poetry. Olumide is currently Associate Lecturer on the post-graduate course Writing for Change, at Central Saint Martins (UAL).
Like Water Like Sea

Like Water Like Sea is a deeply moving story that delves into the realms of grief, love, and self-discovery. Set in London, protagonist, Nia grapples with her loss, and balancing the complicated relationships weaving through her life, while embarking on a profound journey of self-realization. At the heart of the story is Nia’s her late sister, whose absence casts a long shadow over her life. As Nia confronts the anniversary of her sister’s death, she finds herself navigating a sea of emotions, unsure of where grief ends, and healing begins.
Intricately woven into Nia’s narrative are vibrant characters who populate her world. From the smart and alluring Temi; Melvin, her teenage love; and her new yet intimate friendship with Rahul and Crystal. Looming over Nia is her mother, SuSu, whose battle with bipolar disorder weighs heavy on her. As Nia grapples with her own identity and desires, she seeks solace from the world in the act of dancing, but she must also confront the legacy of mental illness that has shaped her life, forging a path toward acceptance, and understanding.
Divorcez by Albert Kokolomami
Publisher: Afri’Ka Editions
Date: March 20, 2024
Genre: Fiction
Language: French
Where to find it: Amazon, Afri’Ka Editions
Albert Kokolomami

Albert Kokolomami is a lawyer, slam singer, writer, and human rights activist from DR Congo.
Divorcez

A few days before her fiftieth birthday, Malaika makes a shocking discovery about her husband, pastor of a large church in Kinshasa. During thirty years of marriage, she had no children, but lovingly raised the four children her husband conceived out of wedlock before finding his way to Damascus. Faced with surprise, his father’s words resonate in his head. At the end of the first year of marriage, her father, having concluded that this marriage had no future, told her: “Divorce.”
She then makes the irreversible decision to file for divorce and will cross paths with a young lawyer torn between his thirst for success and the ethics of his profession. With him, Malaika will begin the divorce proceedings with unwavering determination although her husband, fearing the repercussions on his thriving church, is fiercely opposed. Thus follows a long trial full of twists and turns.
Rick Riordan Presents: It Waits in the Forest by Sarah Dass
Publisher: Rick Riordan Presents
Date: May 14, 2024
Genre: Fiction
Language: English
Where to find it: Rick Riordan Presents
Sarah Dass

Sarah Dass was born and raised in Trinidad and Tobago. A graduate of the University of the West Indies and University College London, she works as an Office Administrator by day and writes stories about growing up in the Caribbean by night. When she’s not writing, she’s thinking about writing, or taking walks with her dachshund. The only thing she loves more than a lazy day at home is exploring new countries.
Rick Riordan Presents: It Waits in the Forest

The very first thriller from Rick Riordan Presents! Drawing from the darkest corners of Caribbean mythology, acclaimed author Sarah Dass crafts a chilling tale of magic, murder, and how far we’ll go to protect what’s ours—perfect for fans of Angeline Boulley and Tiffany D. Jackson. Unlike the other residents of the small Caribbean Island of St. Virgil, Selina DaSilva does not believe in magic. With a logical mind and a knack for botany, Selina used to dream of leaving the island to study Pharmacology—until a vicious, unsolved attack left her father dead and her mother in a coma. Now her guilt over her mother’s condition keeps her tethered to the island, relegated to conning gullible tourists with useless talismans and phony protection rituals. But when one of those tourists ends up at the center of a string of strange murders, the truth that Selina has been denying can no longer be avoided: there is evil lurking in the forests that surround St. Virgil. Another thing that can’t be avoided? Selina’s ex-boyfriend Gabriel, newly employed at the local newspaper and eager to put his investigative skills to use. Desperate to put an end to the killings and claim justice for Selina’s family, these two former lovers race to find answers. But evil bides its time. And as long-buried feelings and long-hidden secrets about Selina’s family’s past begin to reveal themselves, only one answer remains—and it waits in the forest.
Hewa Rwanda by Dorcy Rugamba
Publisher: JC Lattes
Date: March 13, 2024
Genre: Nonfiction
Language: French
Where to find it: JC Lattes
Dorcy Rugamba

Actor, playwright, and director Dorcy Rugamba moved Rwanda with his show about the 1994 genocide. Having studied the performing arts at his father’s Ballets Amasimbi n’Amakombe, he has since produced a multiform body of work which explores mass violence and resilience. In 2001, he founded the Urwintore collective, which aims to produce Rwandan artists at the local and international level. In 2012, he founded the Rwanda Arts Initiative centre in Kigali, then the publishing house Moyo in 2019, which publishes books in African languages.
Hewa Rwanda

On April 7, 1994, twenty soldiers from the presidential guard entered Dorcy Rugamba’s house and murdered her family, her parents, her sisters, and her brothers. It was the beginning of the Tutsi genocide. A student in Butare, Dorcy Rugamba manages to flee to Burundi, leaving behind a pulverized country and men haunted by the world before, the memories, the memory of those who disappeared.
Dorcy Rugamba writes a letter to those who are absent, to her father, to her mother. He offers us a moving story, carried by a rare voice, writing, intensity, and these obsessive questions: what happened? How can we translate into words what is out of reach? How to accept the unacceptable?
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