The Liquid Eye of a Moon

A Nigerian Catcher in the Rye by a major new literary talent.

Fifteen-year-old Dimkpa dreams of the day his father will be made village head. He will return to school and maybe even go on to university; his mother will no longer have to break her back foraging wild food to sell at market; they will have the money to build a fine tomb for his aunt Okike; and his family's status as ohu ma, the lowest Igbo caste, won't matter anymore. But when his father is passed over for a younger man, breaking tradition, Dimkpa realises that he must make his own fate.

Journeying from his small village in rural Nigeria, to Lagos, Awka, and home again, Dimkpa learns that no money is easy money, that superstition runs deep, that knowledge is power, and that sometimes it is better to live in the present than always be chasing a future just out of reach.

The Liquid Eye of a Moon is by turns hilarious and poignant, capturing all the messiness of adolescence, and the difficulty of making your own way in the world.

Intriguing and moving ... a fascinating work of fiction ... Awoke's writing is peppered with stunning images and these vivid descriptions sparkle in the bleakness of Dimkpa's situation ... Through Awoke's poetically-charged and touching scenes, readers will cheer for Dimkpa and hope for a triumph ... The strength in this novel lies in Awoke's extraordinary ability to describe the relationships between the characters ... Dive into this absorbing and well-written debut novel by an author who has much to offer to the world with his fresh take on the caste system and the hope that a single person can make a huge difference to his family and community.
- Sonia Saikaley, The New York Journal of Books

After reading only the first paragraph of The Liquid Eye of a Moon, I knew this story was special. Awoke's prose is immersive and alive, and you sink into it without effort. I had to blink a few times whenever I stopped reading, and I always looked forward to sinking back in. A beautiful coming-of-age story I will not forget.
- Mary Adkins, author of Palm Beach

In The Liquid Eye of a Moon, Uchenna Awoke casts a spell that is at once enchanting and haunting. An important story full of love and wonder, family and culture, strife and tribulation - this is not your typical debut novel. You are in the hands of a masterful storyteller, one whose grace and lyricism will win you over and then burrow deep inside the muck and marrow of your soul where it will remain for a long time.
- Robert Lopez, author of Dispatches From Puerto Nowhere