Cassava Republic Press

In the fictional African state of Zambuena, Katme lives a life of privilege as the wife of a rising political figure. Her days are governed by appearances, loyalty and restraint, until her carefully ordered world begins to fracture. Her closest confidant is Samy, a struggling artist whose work dares to expose the inequalities, repression and violence that underpin the regime. When his new exhibition draws the attention of the authorities, Samy's life is placed in immediate danger. Homosexuality is criminalised, dissent is punished, and silence is expected. As political pressure mounts, Katme is forced to confront the cost of her comfort and the limits of her complicity. The Aquatics is a powerful, unsettling novel about friendship and betrayal, state violence and moral responsibility, written with the intensity and precision of an author deeply attuned to how power operates.

"An important, beautifully written novel about a young man's struggle to come to terms with the actions (and inactions) of his own past. This is one of the best books I have read in a long, long time." - Jerry Stahl, author of Nein, Nein, Nein!Nyjah Messado has built a life away from home, but he is haunted not by a ghost, but by a memory: the moment he witnessed a brutal sexual assault and chose silence. Raised within the rigid masculine codes of an elite Jamaican boys' school, Nyjah learns early what is expected of him: loyalty to other men, contempt for weakness, and the careful management of guilt. Years later, returning to Montego Bay, he must navigate a city shaped by class divisions, colonial legacies and violence, while confronting the moral cost of what he failed to do. My Own Dear People is a fierce, lyrical coming-of-age novel about masculinity, complicity and self-deception. Unflinching in its treatment of rape culture and homophobia, it asks whether forgiveness, of others, or of oneself, is ever truly possible.

A sharply-witted and tender portrait of a young girl's quiet rebellion and her refusal to be broken. Shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2026Winner of the British Book Award - Discover Prize'Dark, humorous, and passionately captures the unique realities of the northern Black experience' - The ObserverSet in 1960s Bradford, The Mercy Step follows Mercy, a precocious young child facing a world far too big for her small body. She lives with her Windrush-generation parents in a crowded household where her mother's attention is stretched between church and family, and her father's temper is something to be endured or avoided. Feeling like an outsider within her own home, Mercy retreats into books and the companionship of her beloved doll, Dolly, while learning early how to navigate the flaws and failings of the adults around her. Yet Mercy is nothing if not resilient. Armed with humour, style and fierce imagination, she quietly begins to plot her escape from a traumatic childhood. Raw and deeply affecting, Mercy's story is one of Black British culture, childhood, family and survival in 1960s Britain. Critical to understanding these untold stories, Marcia's debut is not to be missed.