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Little Rot

A Novel

Author Akwaeke Emezi
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Hardcover
$29.00 US
Penguin Adult HC/TR | Riverhead Books
6.22"W x 9.29"H x 0.96"D   | 16 oz | 12 per carton
On sale Jun 18, 2024 | 288 Pages | 9780525541639
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“A masterwork…mesmerizing…We come away troubled, unsettled — and in some subtle way changed.”–The New York Times

"The perfect steamy read for those hot summer nights." –People

A thrilling new novel from the bestselling, award-winning, visionary Akwaeke Emezi
 
One weekend.
The elite underbelly of a Nigerian city.
A party that goes awry.
A tangled web of sex and lies and corruption that leaves no one unscathed.

Aima and Kalu are a longtime couple who have just split. When Kalu, reeling from the breakup, visits an exclusive sex party hosted by his best friend, Ahmed, he makes a decision that will plunge them all into chaos, brutally and suddenly upending their lives. Ola and Souraya, two Nigerian sex workers visiting from Kuala Lumpur, collide into the scene just as everything goes to hell. Sucked into the city’s corrupt and glittering underworld, they’re all looking for a way out, fueled by a desperate need to escape the dangerous threat that looms over them.
Praise for Little Rot

“A masterwork…mesmerizing…We come away troubled, unsettled — and in some subtle way changed.”-The New York Times Book Review

"A gritty yet hypnotic novel about a web of loosely connected friends grappling with hidden desires in Lagos. . . Emezi portrays the African city as a corrupting force—but only because falling from grace is so painfully, exquisitely human." -Minneapolis Star-Tribune

"[H]as the dark twists and pace of a thriller, the ambitious scope of literary fiction, the language of poetry and the yearning of romance…[T]he blend of melodrama, peril and existential angst in Little Rot is shockingly entertaining and beautifully wrought.”-Los Angeles Times

"Step into the dark side of Nigerian high society in this sexy, thrilling novel...the perfect steamy read for those hot summer nights." -People Magazine

“Drama, mystery, beautiful clothes, expensive cars, explosive sex…Emezi takes readers to an abyss from which there is no escape.”-Kirkus Reviews

"Emezi unspools a web of erotic danger...readers in search of a decadent good time will find it here."-Publishers Weekly

“Little Rot hurtles toward devastation, but even as you anticipate the horrors ahead, the escapist thriller-style pacing will keep you pushing on.”-BookPage

“Multimedia polymath and gender-norm disrupter Emezi. . . examines taboo and trauma in their creative work...Emezi can be counted upon for an ambience of dread and a feverish momentum." -The Millions 

"Emezi is a genius, IMHO. . . Super queer, disturbing and unflinching, Emezi’s latest will leave you uncomfortably questioning morality, power, sex and, well, humanity as a whole.” -Ms Magazine

“Prolific and brilliant multigenre Nigerian author Akwaeke Emezi is back with a novel chronicling the end of a relationship and a sex party that throws its characters into chaos. Read everything Emezi writes!”-Autostraddle


Praise for Akwaeke Emezi

“Akwaeke Emezi parts the seas of the self.” —Vanity Fair

“A writer of startling versatility.” —R. O. Kwon, New York Times Book Review

“Emezi is a dazzling literary talent whose works cut to the quick of the spiritual self.” —Esquire

“A once-in-a-generation voice” —Vulture

“Emezi is a beacon of literary genius.” —The Lambda Literary Review

“One of our greatest living writers” —Shondaland

 “Extraordinarily powerful.” —Edwidge Danticat, The New Yorker

“A major talent.” —San Francisco Chronicle
© Omofolarin Omolayole

Akwaeke Emezi (they/them) is the author of the New York Times bestseller The Death of Vivek Oji, which was longlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize; Pet, a finalist for the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature; and Freshwater, which was named a New York Times Notable Book and shortlisted for the PEN/Hemingway Award, the New York Public Library Young Lions Fiction Award, the Lambda Literary Award, and the Center for Fiction’s First Novel Prize. Selected as a 5 Under 35 honoree by the National Book Foundation, they are based in liminal spaces.



View titles by Akwaeke Emezi

About

“A masterwork…mesmerizing…We come away troubled, unsettled — and in some subtle way changed.”–The New York Times

"The perfect steamy read for those hot summer nights." –People

A thrilling new novel from the bestselling, award-winning, visionary Akwaeke Emezi
 
One weekend.
The elite underbelly of a Nigerian city.
A party that goes awry.
A tangled web of sex and lies and corruption that leaves no one unscathed.

Aima and Kalu are a longtime couple who have just split. When Kalu, reeling from the breakup, visits an exclusive sex party hosted by his best friend, Ahmed, he makes a decision that will plunge them all into chaos, brutally and suddenly upending their lives. Ola and Souraya, two Nigerian sex workers visiting from Kuala Lumpur, collide into the scene just as everything goes to hell. Sucked into the city’s corrupt and glittering underworld, they’re all looking for a way out, fueled by a desperate need to escape the dangerous threat that looms over them.

Praise

Praise for Little Rot

“A masterwork…mesmerizing…We come away troubled, unsettled — and in some subtle way changed.”-The New York Times Book Review

"A gritty yet hypnotic novel about a web of loosely connected friends grappling with hidden desires in Lagos. . . Emezi portrays the African city as a corrupting force—but only because falling from grace is so painfully, exquisitely human." -Minneapolis Star-Tribune

"[H]as the dark twists and pace of a thriller, the ambitious scope of literary fiction, the language of poetry and the yearning of romance…[T]he blend of melodrama, peril and existential angst in Little Rot is shockingly entertaining and beautifully wrought.”-Los Angeles Times

"Step into the dark side of Nigerian high society in this sexy, thrilling novel...the perfect steamy read for those hot summer nights." -People Magazine

“Drama, mystery, beautiful clothes, expensive cars, explosive sex…Emezi takes readers to an abyss from which there is no escape.”-Kirkus Reviews

"Emezi unspools a web of erotic danger...readers in search of a decadent good time will find it here."-Publishers Weekly

“Little Rot hurtles toward devastation, but even as you anticipate the horrors ahead, the escapist thriller-style pacing will keep you pushing on.”-BookPage

“Multimedia polymath and gender-norm disrupter Emezi. . . examines taboo and trauma in their creative work...Emezi can be counted upon for an ambience of dread and a feverish momentum." -The Millions 

"Emezi is a genius, IMHO. . . Super queer, disturbing and unflinching, Emezi’s latest will leave you uncomfortably questioning morality, power, sex and, well, humanity as a whole.” -Ms Magazine

“Prolific and brilliant multigenre Nigerian author Akwaeke Emezi is back with a novel chronicling the end of a relationship and a sex party that throws its characters into chaos. Read everything Emezi writes!”-Autostraddle


Praise for Akwaeke Emezi

“Akwaeke Emezi parts the seas of the self.” —Vanity Fair

“A writer of startling versatility.” —R. O. Kwon, New York Times Book Review

“Emezi is a dazzling literary talent whose works cut to the quick of the spiritual self.” —Esquire

“A once-in-a-generation voice” —Vulture

“Emezi is a beacon of literary genius.” —The Lambda Literary Review

“One of our greatest living writers” —Shondaland

 “Extraordinarily powerful.” —Edwidge Danticat, The New Yorker

“A major talent.” —San Francisco Chronicle

Author

© Omofolarin Omolayole

Akwaeke Emezi (they/them) is the author of the New York Times bestseller The Death of Vivek Oji, which was longlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize; Pet, a finalist for the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature; and Freshwater, which was named a New York Times Notable Book and shortlisted for the PEN/Hemingway Award, the New York Public Library Young Lions Fiction Award, the Lambda Literary Award, and the Center for Fiction’s First Novel Prize. Selected as a 5 Under 35 honoree by the National Book Foundation, they are based in liminal spaces.



View titles by Akwaeke Emezi

Additional formats

Other Books by this Author

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