The Door of No Return
Age 12+
Historical Fiction Poetry Family & Home Stories
From New York Times Bestselling author Kwame Alexander comes the first book in a breathtaking trilogy that tells the story of a boy, a village, and the epic odyssey of an African family.
The #1 New York Times bestseller
'At once vivid and simple, lyrical and surgical, expressive and exacting' Lupita Nyong'o
Dreams are today’s answers for tomorrow’s questions.
Eleven-year-old Kofi Offin has dreams of water, of its urgenat whisper that beckons with promises and secrets. He has heard the call on the banks of Upper Kwanta, West Africa, where he lives. He loves these things above all else: his family, the fireside tales of his father’s father, a girl named Ama, and, of course, swimming. But when the unthinkable – a sudden death – occurs during a festival between rival villages, Kofi ends up in a fight for his life. What happens next will send him on a harrowing journey across land and sea, and away from everything he loves. Yet Kofi’s dreams may be the key to his freedom…
Creators
Kwame Alexander is a poet, educator, and the New York Times bestselling author of 28+ books, including The Undefeated, Booked and Rebound, the follow-up to his Newbery Medal-winning middle grade novel, The Crossover. He’s also the Founding Editor of Versify, an imprint that publishes fiction and poetry for children and young adults.
Reviews
Absolutely spellbinding: Kwame Alexander weaves together storytelling, poetry, music and history like no one else can. An unforgettable journey to be treasured and shared across generations
At once vivid and simple, lyrical and surgical, expressive and exacting, comforting and cutting
a gripping coming-of-age-story
Guardian
An intensely powerful coming-of-age story steeped in African tradition and mythology.
Waterstones
Interweaving moments of joyful exuberance and heartbreaking sadness via sensate lines by turns sweet and stinging, Alexander’s sweeping novel conjures a captivating, resonant world of African tradition, life, and ancestral wisdom,
Publishers Weekly, starred review
