An exclusive extract from Yaa Gyasi's Transcendent Kingdom
Yaa Gyasi’s second novel, Transcendent Kingdom, is a powerful story that strings together the intricacies of faith, love, trauma and psychology, placing them in a narrative that gently and poignantly invites you in.
Yaa Gyasi is a Ghanaian-American novelist. Her first novel, Homegoing (2016), was a Sunday Times bestseller and won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Best First Novel and was shortlisted for the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Fiction. I am honoured for sweet-thang to have joined Viking Books and Penguin on this campaign to celebrate the launch of Gyasi’s latest incredible work. Penguin’s hardback edition of Transcendent Kingdom will be released on the 4th of March 2021.
Transcendent Kingdom has been a treasure to possess and consume. It tackles the heaviness of grief, loneliness and depression, while easing you in and out of the experiences and memories of Gifty, the protagonist who turns to the world science in an attempt to make sense of her past – a place entangled with familial trauma, loss, addiction, and the over-arching presence of God.
This novel touched me because of the way Gyasi weaves together the narrative. As a reader, you are thrown into the seas of deeply entrenched wounds and brought back up for air as you piece together the nuances that make up the lives within the story. I have to agree with the praise of Roxanne Gay, who writes that there is “not a word or idea out of place.” Transcendent Kingdom is a novel that builds with every page. Gyasi takes the complicated polarities of science and religion and intertwines them, creating a searing tale of transcendence itself.
I am beyond excited to witness the growth of this novel and urge everyone to acquire a copy of their own. Penguin have kindly shared an exclusive extract of the novel for you to enjoy! Let us know what you think by tagging us on social media! @sweetthangzine
Click here to be redirected to Penguin’s site to see where you can pre-order their beautiful hardback edition.
Thank you for reading,
Zoe xo
Founder, sweet-thang zine
All images by Penguin
Have a read of this beautiful and exclusive extract from the novel:
