Small Worlds

Author Caleb Azumah Nelson
Narrator Caleb Azumah Nelson
Publisher Penguin Books Ltd
Publish Date 11 May 2023
Run Time 7 hours and 24 minutes
Format Audio
Genre Modern and contemporary fiction, Narrative theme: Coming of age, Narrative theme: Death, grief, loss, Narrative theme: Identity / belonging, Narrative theme: Interior life, Narrative theme: Love and relationships.

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What to expect

Brought to you by Penguin.

WINNER OF THE DYLAN THOMAS PRIZE 2024

An exhilarating and expansive new novel about fathers and sons, faith and friendship from Caleb Azumah Nelson, the no.1 bestselling, award-winning author of Open Water

The one thing that can solve Stephen's problems is dancing. Dancing at Church, with his parents and brother, the shimmer of Black hands raised in praise; he might have lost his faith, but he does believe in rhythm. Dancing with his friends, somewhere in a basement with the drums about to drop, while the DJ spins garage cuts. Dancing with his band, making music which speaks not just to the hardships of their lives, but the joys too. Dancing with his best friend Adeline, two-stepping around the living room, crooning and grooving, so close their heads might touch. Dancing alone, at home, to his father's records, uncovering parts of a man he has never truly known.

Stephen has only ever known himself in song. But what becomes of him when the music fades? When his father begins to speak of shame and sacrifice, when his home is no longer his own? How will he find space for himself: a place where he can feel beautiful, a place he might feel free?

Set over the course of three summers in Stephen's life, from London to Ghana and back again, Small Worlds is an exhilarating and expansive novel about the worlds we build for ourselves, the worlds we live, dance and love within.

© 2023 Caleb Azumah Nelson (P)2023 Penguin Audio

Critics Review

Nelson writes about closeness, with family, with lovers, with art, as careful, essential labour

Raven Leilani, author of Luster

A mesmerising Peckham love story

An affecting meditation on the migrant experience

Guardian

Caleb Azumah Nelson’s writing is touching, heartfelt, and musically rich

Diana Evans

Small Worlds is an emotionally astute novel that cements this 29-year-old south London author as one of the UK’s best.

New Statesman

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

A gentle reflection on self-discovery

Vogue, 2023 Spring Highlights

If you haven’t had a chance to read Caleb Azumah Nelson’s debut, Open Water, about a gorgeous love affair in modern-day London, then please do; it’ll keep you occupied until his new release is out on 11 May, which is about fathers and sons, the power of dance and how one man can create a life he loves

Stylist, Big Fiction for 2023

A wonderful, dexterous work. Caleb Azumah Nelson explores modes of blackness in ways that are enriching and invigorating

IRENOSEN OKOJIE

Caleb Azumah Nelson’s writing captures nostalgia-that most essential of sentiments-like no other. I was immersed, transported, and at the same time affirmed in the familiar. Gorgeous

Sareeta Domingo, author of IF I DON'T HAVE YOU

Small Worlds grabs you by the heart and holds tightly, revealing a story as beautiful and as lyrical as the words that adorn the pages.

Sofia Akel

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

Small Worlds is a Vermeer universe of a novel, of warmth, deep feeling, aching and gorgeousness. To read is to be hugged by a rich brown oak, ever stretching out. It is as charged as it is earthed. It is wonderful.

Inua Ellams

It’s a story about finding both one’s identity and one’s place in the world.

Art Review

moving, intimate, and sizzling hot

Sunday Times

Steeped in nostalgia, grief and heartbreak, yet somehow still hopeful, this is one of the best books I’ve read all year.

City AM

This story about rebuilding small worlds – places in which to feel beautiful and free – is itself a thing of beauty

Prospect

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Open Water

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