Small Worlds

THE TOP TEN SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING NOVEL

WINNER OF THE DYLAN THOMAS PRIZE 2024

Dancing is the one thing that can solve Stephen's problems.

At Church with his family, the shimmer of Black hands raised in praise. With his band, making music speaking not just to their hardships, but their joys. Grooving with his best friend, so close their heads might touch. Dancing alone to his father's records, uncovering parts of a man he has never truly known. His youth, shame and sacrifice.

Stephen has only ever known himself in song. But what becomes of him when the music fades?

Set over the course of three summers, from South London to Ghana and back again, Small Worlds is a novel about the worlds we build for ourselves. The worlds we live, dance and love within.

About the Author

Caleb Azumah Nelson is a British-Ghanaian writer and photographer living in South East London. His first novel, Open Water, won the Costa First Novel Award and Debut of the Year at the British Book Awards, and was a number-one Times bestseller. It was also shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize, the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award, Waterstones Book of the Year, and longlisted for the Gordon Burn Prize and the Desmond Elliott Prize. He was selected as a National Book Foundation "5 under 35" honoree by Brit Bennett.

Reviews

"Nelson writes about closeness, with family, with lovers, with art, as careful, essential labour" —Raven Leilani, author of Luster

"An affecting meditation on the migrant experience" ―Guardian

"Small Worlds is a miracle of observation, of attention and attunement. Caleb Azumah Nelson writes prose that is unmatched in its musicality and sensitivity. A gorgeous, rhapsodic, wise novel." —Katie Kitamura, author of Intimacies

"In his beautiful new novel Nelson summons the sounds of Black Youth, love and discovery to the page. A celebration of the heart." —Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, author of Chain-Gang All-Stars and Friday Black

"Caleb Azumah Nelson's Open Water was a slim masterpiece. His second novel, Small Worlds is a similarly lapidary coming-of-age story set over three years in the life of an extraordinary young man." ―Observer

"Both intimate and inviting, Azumah Nelson weaves not just worlds but exquisite universes with his words. Small Worlds is a masterful exploration of love, masculinity, coming of age and community, and Azumah Nelson's dextrous, sublime pen brings it into dazzling life." —Bolu Babalola, author of Love in Colour

"A book which is alert and enlivening, at once serious and a pleasure to read ― Literary Review

Dimensions: 12.9 x 1.8 x 19.8 cm