Read With Jenna - November 2023 Book Club Pick
'The Sun Sets In Singapore' selected as the penultimate book club read for the year
It was with great excitement and pride, tinged with sadness, distress and deep dismay at current world events, that I celebrated the 30 October announcement of the selection of ‘The Sun Sets In Singapore’ as Read With Jenna’s November 2023 Book Club Pick.
The Read With Jenna books are personally selected by Jenna Bush Hager, and include works by writers I love, like Taylor Jenkins Reid, Yaa Gyasi, Salma El-Wardany, Donna Tartt and Kristin Hannah. Click on the image below to all the Read With Jenna picks so far: a fantastic range of fiction and non-fiction which all have the quality of being hard to put down in common.
It is a great honour to have my debut novel be chosen, and it was beyond my expectations for this book be what a national US book club was looking for for its readers. Hearing it described as “a dazzling, sexy debut novel” by Jenna Bush Hager was definitely a pinch me moment! I am so pleased that more readers will potentially be interested in reading this book about three Nigerian women at a crossroads in their lives, played in a country far from ‘home’, and will learn about the African expat community in Singapore.
I enjoyed my recent interview with The Today Show - the more interviews I do, the more my views on the book marinate and develop, influenced no doubt by the greater distance I have from the ideas and characters. In particular, the question of how to move forward in life when you have gone so far down one path, and when the tools that helped you build a life now become the very obstacles in your way, was one I enjoyed discussing. The theme of community and forging common bonds is also an important one in the book.
I will be sharing more throughout the month of November, including a personally curated playlist and more on the characters.
Thank you to the Associated Press for their honest review of TSSIS, in particular the recognition of the book’s “exceptionally niche” approach to its “broad, common themes”. I think that telling stories as a black writer means finding a balance between the a character’s universal humanity and their very specific experiences. So while I hope all readers interested in contemporary women’s fiction can enjoy the novel, I’m excited by the fact that some readers will connect with its cultural references more than others.
I also thought that the conclusion of the book being “charming, sweet, funny and emotional — but also exhausting.” was a wonderful one - and one which could be applied to the author herself!
Click on the image below for the full review.
xoxo
K
Purchase ‘The Sun Sets In Singapore’ in the US:
Purchase ‘The Sun Sets In Singapore’ in Australia and New Zealand:
Purchase ‘In Such Tremendous Heat’ in the UK, Singapore and Australia:
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