A compelling story of exploitation and cultural collision...

WOMEN'S PRIZE LONGLISTED AUTHOR OF 'STRANGE MUSIC'.

WINNER: SI LEEDS READER'S CHOICE AWARD 2022.

Following the shocking death of her father, Koliwe leaves her life in Oxford behind when she travels to AIDS-ravaged Eswatini to take a job as an aid worker. But the Southern Africa she encounters is a far cry from the stories her late artist father told.

As she becomes enmeshed with Thandi, a local girl hiding a disturbing past, Koliwe feels increasingly split between her English identity and her rediscovered African roots as Xolile.

When Thandi goes missing, Koliwe's search for the truth leads her deep into the mountains, where the harsh realities of wealth and poverty, tradition and modernity, clash.

A powerful exploration of cultural identity, family secrets, and hard truths.

Winner S I Leeds Reader's Choice 2022, United Kingdom

About the Author
Laura Fish is an award-winning writer of Caribbean heritage. She is a graduate of the MA in Creative Writing programme at UEA (2002) and was awarded a PhD in Creative and Critical Writing from UEA (2007). The manuscript for her third novel, Lying Perfectly Still, was S I Leeds Reader's Choice winner 2022, and came third in the S I Leeds Literary Prize 2022. Her second novel, Strange Music (Jonathan Cape 2008; Vintage 2009, now available penguin.co.uk) was Orange Prize listed 2009; International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award nominated 2009; selected for Pearson Edexcel's Black British Writing A level reading guide 2017/18; is taught on university courses internationally. Her first novel, Flight of Black Swans (London: Duckworth 1995) received very favourable reviews in The Guardian, the Evening Standard, and Times Literary Supplement. Laura is one of four writers featured in the Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature special issue, 'Contemporary Black British Women's Writing: Experiments in Literary Form' pp. 211-222 (founded by Germaine Greer), alongside Bernadine Evaristo, Booker Prize winner 2022. Since 2014, Laura has been employed at Northumbria University, U.K University of the Year, Times Higher Education (THE) Awards 2022. Laura has over 10 years' experience with BBC in broadcast television and radio, in news, current affairs and features

Reviews

• 'Lying Perfectly Still is a powerful and accomplished novel. Laura Fish seamlessly transports us into a richly drawn landscape and immerses us in the complex and layered life of her protagonist Koliwe as she confronts an ugly underbelly of international aid work in the 1990s. Fish is a talented and skilful writer who deserves serious attention and a wide readership.' - Sharon Duggal
• 'So many jewels in this book, miniature specifics...Every page rings with authenticity.' - Monique Roffey, Costa Award Winner
• The Sunday Times about Strange Music: 'A gifted writer and her manipulation of language is her forte - brilliant, sensuous and shocking.'

Awards
Winner of S I Leeds Reader's Choice 2022. Runner-up for S I Leeds Literary Prize 2022.



Book Information
ISBN 9781915789228
Author Laura Fish
Format Paperback
Page Count 204
Imprint Fly on the Wall Press
Publisher Fly on the Wall Press