HALF LIVES

376pp., paperback, The Borough Press, London, 2026

ISBN: 9780008528898

A moving novel about the bond between two sisters and the momentous decision that comes between them.

Growing up in 1970s Ghana, Evelyn and Maggie vow that one day they will escape to America. Evelyn marries Gus, a wealthy surgeon who already lives in New York, and quickly falls pregnant, while Maggie realises she is also expecting, without a husband. When Evelyn loses her unborn child, she takes Maggie’s unwanted baby to raise as her own, an act that has untold consequences for both sisters ...

Krystle Zara Appiah is a British-Ghanaian writer, editor and screenwriter living in London. In 2020, she was one of forty writers selected for the London Library's Emerging Writers Programme. Rootless, her debut novel, was published in 2023.