Publishers Weekly
10/30/2023
Rhuday-Perkovich (Operation Sisterhood) pens a darkly atmospheric love letter to siblinghood in this speculative foray into processing grief, guilt, and shame. Following an argument between the siblings, 14-year-old Nigerian American Harriet Adu’s older brother Tunde dies in a school shooting, leaving Harriet with the sharp guilt of having wished his death upon him that same day. Admitting her remorse in Catholic confessionals throughout New York City has yet to resolve any of the lingering shame, and she lashes out at her cousin Nikka and Tunde’s best friend, Luke, who are both Black. Attempting to rekindle their friendship, the trio visit a local pool where Harriet finds catharsis in swimming. But an intrusive, biting voice, coupled with terrifying hallucinations, glimpses of Tunde’s ghost, and an unearthly near-drowning, shatters Harriet’s peaceful release. After she receives cryptic information about a haunted underground world, Harriet realizes that the horrifying events at the pool may be connected. With Nikka and Luke, Harriet ventures into the mysterious realm beneath the city, seeking answers and—hopefully—absolution. Uneven pacing sometimes detracts from the captivating premise. Rhuday-Perkovich nevertheless employs Harriet’s resolute narrative voice to relay the fantastical happenings, as well as her determined steps toward healing, with careful sensitivity and refreshing creativity. Ages 12–up. Agent: Marietta Zacker, Gallt & Zacker Literary. (Jan.)
From the Publisher
In this moving work, Rhuday-Perkovich has created characters whose internal struggles are palpable and an intriguing narrative with both tension and introspection that delves into themes of guilt, redemption, and the possibility of second chances.” – Horn Book
Kirkus Reviews
2023-10-07
A guilt-stricken 14-year-old Nigerian American girl in Harlem travels with her cousin and her brother’s best friend on an underground odyssey as she tries to make sense of her grief.
The murder of Harriet Adu’s older brother, Tunde, in a shooting at their old school fractured her family. Attending a new school, where her reputation as “The Girl Whose Brother Died” follows her, hasn’t made Harriet feel any less lonely. Even the presence of Nikka (her cousin) and attempts by Luke (Tunde’s best friend) to support her can’t blot out the guilt she feels over the last words she said to her brother during a fight on the morning of the day he died: “I wish you were dead.” The swimming pool, once the only place where Harriet felt safe, becomes strangely malevolent when an unseen force attacks her in the water. Soon after, a new classmate named Alisia arrives and, with her talk of people living in subway tunnels and stories that are “different the second time around,” seemingly offers Harriet a pathway to the absolution that she seeks. Visions of Tunde and a near-drowning lead Luke and Nikka to help Harriet figure out what’s going on. Although the backstory of the underground world isn’t sufficiently revealed, the genre-crossing elements and the story’s surreal fun house vibe will keep readers on the edges of their seats.
A highly original tale exploring grief and weaving together the realistic and fantastical. (Speculative fiction. 12-18)
