Archives par étiquette : Mushens Entertainment

ROOTLESS de Krystle Zara Appiah

The debut reading group novel by London Library Emerging Writer Krystle Zara Appiah. ROOTLESS opens with Sam discovering that his wife, Efe, has left him and their daughter and returned to Ghana. Sam is shocked – their marriage was perfect. Or was it? ROOTLESS is a portrait of a British-Ghanaian marriage in crisis, as well as posing the question: can you ever really go home?

ROOTLESS
by Krystle Zara Appiah
The Borough Press UK/Ballantine US, Spring 2023
(via Mushens Entertainment)

Best friends Efe and Sam meet as teenagers in 90s London. Efe is a new arrival in the UK from Ghana, sinking under the weight of her parents’ expectations. Sam is focused and idealistic, taking his first steps towards a career in corporate law. Over the years that follow the best friends become lovers, then marry. But an unplanned pregnancy forces them to confront just how radically different they want their lives to be. Soon Efe is swallowed up by the demands of motherhood, the dreams for her life dangling from a thread. And when she leaves, disappearing one morning and leaving both Sam and their daughter behind, Sam’s illusion of their perfect marriage crumbles. He’s about to discover exactly who he’s married to and the lengths he’ll go to win her back.
This is beautifully written and provocative reading group fiction, with much to discuss around love, marriage, motherhood, and if you can ever really ‘go home’. For fans of Lauren Groff’s Fates and Furies, Sally Rooney’s Normal People and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Americanah. Krystle’s second novel, HINTERLANDS, will explore the complex and competitive relationships that can exist between sisters, plus the secrets lurking in a close-knit community.

Krystle Zara Appiah is a Ghanaian writer and screenwriter, born and raised in London. She has a degree in literature and creative writing from the University of Kent. In 2020, she was one of forty writers selected for the London Library’s Emerging Writers Programme. She also works as a children’s books editor. ROOTLESS is her debut novel. Her second novel will explore the complex and competitive relationships that can exist between sisters, plus the secrets lurking in a close-knit community.

MEREDITH, ALONE de Claire Alexander

An utterly charming debut reading group novel by Scottish journalist Claire Alexander, MEREDITH, ALONE follows a perfectly ordinary woman with one extraordinary thing about herself – she hasn’t left her home in three years. A warm and uplifting novel that also deals with dark themes around mental illness.

MEREDITH, ALONE
by Claire Alexander
Michael Joseph UK / Grand Central US, 2022

“My name is Meredith Maggs, and I haven’t left my home for 1,215 days.” Meredith Maggs is an independent woman living in Glasgow, with no responsibilities apart from her cat. She has a successful job, likes to cook, and has regular visits from her best friend Sadie and Sadie’s children. But Meredith is not your average 39 year old. Following a traumatic event and the breakdown of family relationships, she hasn’t left home for more than three years. Meredith would rather not think about how her old life used to be – boyfriends, a close relationship with her sister, and a bustling social life. But when two new people enter her life, asking a lot of unwanted questions about her past, Meredith is forced to confront it at last. And, slowly, she realises that her journey towards happiness and self-acceptance involves much more than walking out of her front door.

Claire Alexander lives on the west coast of Scotland with her husband and children. During her career as a freelance writer, she has written for The Washington Post, The Independent, The Huffington Post and Glamour. In 2019, one of her essays was published in the award-winning literary anthology We Got This: Solo Mom Stories of Grit, Heart, and Humor. When she’s not writing or parenting, she’s on her paddle board, thinking about her next book.

DIARY OF A MAGPIE de Marie-Claire Amuah

A reading group coming-of-age novel about a young British-Ghanaian woman born into the chaos of domestic violence, who realises even as an adult that you can’t escape the way your childhood shapes you.

DIARY OF A MAGPIE
by Marie-Claire Amuah
Oneworld UK, Summer 2022

DIARY OF A MAGPIE tells the story of Stella, a child of Ghanaian parents, born and raised in South West London. Stella is born into the chaos of domestic violence and struggles to make sense of the world around her. She touches wood so that bad things won’t happen to her or her family – until she learns a poem about Magpies, ‘one for sorrow…’ Stella excels academically and achieves professional fulfilment and success once she leaves home. However, she is unable to make evidence-based conclusions about events that unfold around her. Stella continues to rely on superstition to provide meaning to her life; to control the otherwise uncontrollable. She feels her greatest personal happiness when she falls in love but learns that magpies alone can’t protect her from heartbreak, and that the impact of her childhood is something she will have to face – one way or another.

Marie-Claire Amuah is a British-Ghanaian barrister, based in London. She works in private prosecutions and specialises in white-collar crime. When she isn’t writing, or practising law, she can be found walking her dog, practising yoga, or spending time with friends.

THE BIRTH DEBRIEF de Illiyin Morrison

THE BIRTH DEBRIEF
by Illiyin Morrison
Quercus, Summer 2022

Despite being a trained midwife, Illiyin’s own birth experience was traumatic and led her to examine the effects of birth trauma more deeply. She has grown to appreciate the need for greater understanding of what took place during childbirth and why, in order to facilitate healing during the postnatal period. Using her own experience as a midwife and mother Illiyin plans to dispel myths and taboos around pregnancy and give women and birthing people the tools to manage and alleviate the effects of birth trauma. Illiyin will also be giving practical tips and exercises throughout the book to help readers understand and manage any birth related trauma while transitioning into postnatal life – whether it is the first or fifth baby.

Illiyin Morrison now offers a birth debriefing service, facilitating postpartum recovery and care. Illiyin’s Instagram page started in March 2020 to empower and educate women on birthing experiences and recovery, and now has over 17,500 followers. She has always had a passion for empowering women during pregnancy and childbirth and is extremely passionate about birth education. She offers an international Birth Debrief service to women and birthing people from all walks of life. Her debriefs are in such high demand and are fully booked until the end of March 2021.

THE MIXED EXPERIENCE de Natalie & Naomi Evans

In THE MIXED RACE EXPERIENCE, the founders of the anti-racist platform Everyday Racism share their experience of growing up mixed race in Britain, how they continue to process, understand and learn about their identity and use their privilege to advocate for change, as well as addressing the privileges and complexities of being mixed race in Britain today.

THE MIXED RACE EXPERIENCE
by Natalie and Naomi Evans
Square Peg, February 2022
(via Mushens Entertainment)

In the last census, Britain recorded over 1.2 million people who identified as mixed race. 6% of children under the age of 5 identify as mixed race, a higher number than any other Black and ethnic minority group in the country. So, why is it so hard for mixed race people to navigate their identity?
Weaving in real life stories from people in the UK who identify as being mixed race, are in a mixed race relationship or are raising mixed race children, practical advice and research to dispel common myths and stereotypes, this book is for anyone who needs help navigating a world that still struggles to understand mixed race people. From what it’s like to grow up in a majority white area and handling racism in your own family to understanding colourism, navigating mixed race microaggressions and internalised racism, this book is a thought provoking, sensitive, challenging and deeply moving look at identity and belonging.

Natalie Evans is a 31-year-old Events Manager, an anti-racist educator, speaker and writer from Kent. She has managed various festivals and is currently the Events Manager for a new youth festival, which will launch in 2021. Natalie is of Black Jamaican and White British heritage and has experienced racism both overtly and covertly throughout her life. She grew up in white majority town before moving to Brighton in 2015. She has recently moved back to her hometown and reflected on her experiences of racism both growing up and in her workplace. She co-founded Everyday Racism in May 2020 with her sister Naomi, after a video of her confronting two men racially abusing a ticket conductor went viral on twitter.
Naomi Evans is a 37-year-old Head of Drama at a secondary school in the South East of England, an anti-racist educator, speaker and writer. She has been a teacher since completing her PGCE at the London Institute of Education in 2005 and has a wealth of experience in training and leadership within the education system. Naomi is of Black Jamaican and White British heritage and has experienced racism both overtly and covertly throughout her life. She is working to influence change in education to ensure the curriculum is not just taught through a white lens. She is also interested in the representation of parenthood in the UK since becoming a mother herself. She has been married for 10 years and is the mother of two young children.