Somadina Emezi Akwaeke (2025)

This sweeping YA fantasy, inspired by indigenous Igbo culture, follows dibias, deities, magic and a twin searching for her kidnapped brother. Somadina and her twin brother, Jayaike, are practically the same person, finishing each others sentences and making each other whole. When they come of age, their magical gifts begin to develop, but while Jayaikes powers enchant, Somadinas cause fear to spread through their town. An outsider who now faces dangerous hostility, Somadina is devastated when her brother, the one person she trusts, vanishes. She knows she must track him down, whatever the danger, even if it means entering the Sacred Forest and undertaking gruelling, otherworldly travel she may not survive. Her journey leads towards hidden places where even those closest to the spirit world do not dare to go, forcing her to discover whether she has the strength, in body and soul, to continue. Akwaeke Emezi weaves a story of identity, family and the power of the past in a world where the extraordinary is ordinary.