THE DRAGONFLY SEA, a novel

489pp., paperback, Vintage Books, New York, (2019) 2020

ISBN: 978110197362

A coming-of-age novel.

As Ayaana grows into adulthood she decides to leave the island of Pate off the coast of Kenya where she lives with her mother, and travels by ship to the Far East on a journey of self-discovery.

“The novel spans several lives, two continents, one body of water and at least six languages, but what holds it together is not a person, place or tongue. Rather it’s a certain oceanic feeling (to lift a line from Freud, who lifted it from Romain Rolland), a sensation of oneness with the universe ... In its omnivorous interest in the world, The Dragonfly Sea is a paean to both cultural diffusion and difference ... On the other hand, the novel insists with equal force that its cosmopolitanism is deeply compatible with cruelty ... As much as The Dragonfly Sea traces the globe, it also depicts an internal pilgrimage, its heroine in rose attar a broken saint.” Shaj Mathew, New York Times Book Review

“In this sprawling, beautiful novel from Owuor, a real-life occurrence of a Kenyan woman traveling to China after learning of her Chinese heritage forms the backdrop for a moving story of loss and discovery ... Brilliantly capturing Ayaana’s sense of loss of her home and her family, as well as her hope for the future, Owuor’s mesmerizing prose lays bare the swirling global currents that Ayaana is trapped within. With a rollicking narrative and exceptional writing, this epic establishes Owuor as a considerable talent.” Publishers Weekly (starred)

Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor was born in Kenya. Winner of the 2003 Caine Prize for African Writing, she has twice received an Iowa International Writers’ Program Fellowship. Her work has appeared in McSweeney’s and other publications, and she has recently been a fellow at the Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study and the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin. She lives in Nairobi. Her debut novel, Dust, was published in 2014.