Two young people meet at a pub in South East London. Both are Black British, both won scholarships to private schools where they struggled to belong, both are now artists - he a photographer, she a dancer - trying to make their mark in a city that by turns celebrates and rejects them.

Tentatively, tenderly, they fall in love. But two people who seem destined to be together can still be torn apart by fear and violence. At once an achingly beautiful love story and a potent insight into race and masculinity, Open Water asks what it means to be a person in a world that sees you only as a Black body, to be vulnerable when you are only respected for strength, to find safety in love, only to lose it.

An amazing debut novel. You should read this book.

'A tender and touching love story, beautifully told' Observer 10 Best Debut Novelists of 2021

'Hands-down the best debut I've read in years' The Times

'A beautiful and powerful novel about the true and sometimes painful depths of love' Candice Carty-Williams, bestselling author of QUEENIE

'An unforgettable debut... it's Sally Rooney meets Michaela Coel meets Teju Cole' New York Times

'A love song to Black art and thought' Yaa Gyasi, bestselling author of HOMEGOING and TRANSCENDENT KINGDOM 

More Information
ISBN/EAN 9780241448786
Author Caleb Azumah Nelson
Publisher Penguin
Imprint Viking
Publication date 3 Feb 2022
Format Paperback
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You're reviewing:Open Water

Open Water

Caleb Azumah Nelson
€11.99

With gorgeous, soulful intensity, Caleb Azumah Nelson has written the most essential British debut of recent years.

WINNER OF THE COSTA FIRST NOVEL AWARD 2021

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