Book of the Month November 2023

Book of the Month November 2023

Quizlit’s Book of the Month November 2023 is Small Worlds by Caleb Azumah Nelson. Set over the course of three summers, from South London to Ghana and back again, Small Worlds is a exhilarating novel about the worlds we build for ourselves. The worlds we live, dance and love within.

Small Worlds by Caleb Azumah Nelson

An exhilarating and expansive new novel about fathers and sons, faith and friendship from Caleb Azumah Nelson, the no.1 bestselling, award-winning author of Open Water

The one thing that can solve Stephen’s problems is dancing. Dancing at Church, with his parents and brother, the shimmer of Black hands raised in praise; he might have lost his faith, but he does believe in rhythm. Dancing with his friends, somewhere in a basement with the drums about to drop, while the DJ spins garage cuts. Dancing alone, at home, to his father’s records, uncovering parts of a man he has never truly known.

Stephen has only ever known himself in song. But what becomes of him when the music fades? When his father begins to speak of shame and sacrifice, when his home is no longer his own? How will he find space for himself- a place where he can feel beautiful, a place he might feel free?

Set over the course of three summers in Stephen’s life, from London to Ghana and back again, Small Worlds is an exhilarating and expansive novel about the worlds we build for ourselves, the worlds we live, dance and love within.

“Small Worlds resonates and reverberates with the true language of our souls. Drop the needle on it.”—Irish Times

An ode to the West African immigrant community in London, a coming-of-age tale of young love and yearning, and a quietly powerful meditation on intergenerational conflict and trauma… Small Worlds is an achingly tender, exquisitely rendered portrait of a truly beautiful soul.”—Literary Hub

About Caleb Azumah Nelson

Caleb Azumah Nelson is a British-Ghanaian writer and photographer, living in South East London. Born in 1993 to Ghanaian parents he grew up in Bellingham in SE London. He obtained a scholarship to the independent Alleyn’s School in Dulwich. His dream to become an author began as a teenager. In 2019 he quit his job at Apple and began writing full time

His short story, “Pray,” was shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award. His debut Open Water won the Costa First Novel Award, the British Book Award for Debut Fiction, was a National Book Foundation “5 Under 35” and was named a best book of the year by TIME, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Library Journal, Literary Hub, and The Millions, among other places.

Other Caleb Azumah Nelson Books

A stunning, shattering debut novel about two Black British artists falling in and out of love

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. With gorgeous, soulful intensity,

If you enjoyed our selection for Book of the Month November 2023, check out our selection of the 10 Best Nigerian Books to Read.