About this item
Winner of the PEN Open Book AwardAn NPR Best Book of 2016A Washington Post Notable Fiction PickA PBS NewsHour Best Book of 2016 A Slate Best Book of the Year One of Esquire Magazines Best Books of 2016 One of Oprah.coms 10 Favorite Books of 2016. "Transcendent." - The New York Times Book Review. "Flawless. . . another masterpiece from an author who seems incapable of writing anything thats less than brilliant." - NPR. From the award-winning author of Boy, Snow, Bird and Mr. Fox comes an enchanting collection of intertwined stories. Playful, ambitious, and exquisitely imagined, What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours is cleverly built around the idea of keys, literal and metaphorical. The key to a house, the key to a heart, the key to a secret - Oyeyemis keys not only unlock elements of her characters lives, they promise further labyrinths on the other side. In "Books and Roses" one special key opens a library, a garden, and clues to at least two lovers fates. In "Is Your Blood as Red as This?" an unlikely key opens the heart of a student at a puppeteering school. "Sorry Doesnt Sweeten Her Tea" involves a "house of locks," where doors can be closed only with a key - with surprising, unobservable developments. And in "If a Book Is Locked Theres Probably a Good Reason for That Dont You Think," a key keeps a mystical diary locked (for good reason) . Oyeyemis tales span multiple times and landscapes as they tease boundaries between coexisting realities. Is a key a gate, a gift, or an invitation? What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours captivates as it explores the many possible answers.
About the Author
Helen Oyeyemi is a British novelist. She lives in Prague with an ever-increasing perfume wardrobe- let's just say the bottle count exceeds 150 but is less than 300- and has written ten books so far, none of which contain 'magical realism'. (Can't fiction sometimes get extra fictional without being called such names?!) Number One Daydream these days: writing a novel or story that inspires a fragrance.
