We Need New Names

We Need New Names

NoViolet Bulawayo



Darling is only 10 years old, and yet she must navigate a fragile and violent world. In Zimbabwe, Darling and her friends steal guavas, try to get the baby out of young Chipo’s belly, and grasp at memories of Before. Before their homes were destroyed by paramilitary policemen, before the school closed, before the fathers left for dangerous jobs abroad.

But Darling has a chance to escape: she has an aunt in America. She travels to this new land in search of America’s famous abundance only to find that her options as an immigrant are perilously few. NoViolet Bulawayo’s debut calls to mind the great storytellers of displacement and arrival who have come before her—from Zadie Smith to Monica Ali to J.M. Coetzee—while she tells a vivid, raw story all her own.

Awards

Barnes & Noble’s Discover Great New Writers Award finalist

Booker Prize Shortlist

Etisalat Prize for Literature

Guardian First Book Shortlist Prize

Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award

Indies Choice Awards Debut Fiction Winner

L.A. Times Book Prize

NBF 5 Under 35 honoree

Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Legacy Award

Best of Year

New York Times Notable

Top Monthly

BN Discover

Indie Next