British-Ghanaian writer Krystle Zara Appiah, author of the critically acclaimed debut Rootless, is back with a new novel: Half Lives.
Set during the protracted period of economic decline in 1970s Ghana, two sisters, Evelyn and Maggie, make a deal to run away to the US to start a new life together. The dream comes true for Evelyn, who marries a wealthy surgeon living in New York; meanwhile, Maggie is living in shame back home, after becoming pregnant out of wedlock. When the sisters make a new deal to hand over Maggie’s newborn child to be brought up by Evelyn, the sisters have to contend with the devastating consequences.
Describing the book as an “emotional gut-punch of a novel,” British-Nigerian publishing consultant Nancy Adimora told Semafor that Half Lives “offers a rare opportunity to appreciate that, during Ghana’s economic hardship in the 1970s and 80s, life continued — as it always does.”