WINNER OF THE COSTA FIRST NOVEL AWARD 2021WINNER OF DEBUT NOVEL OF THE YEAR AT THE BRITISH BOOK
AWARDS 2022A No.1 BESTSELLER IN THE TIMES'A tender and touching love story beautifully told'
Observer 'Hands-down the best debut I've read in years' The Times 'A beautiful and powerful
novel about the true and sometimes painful depths of love' Candice Carty-Williams bestselling
author of QUEENIE 'An unforgettable debut... it's Sally Rooney meets Michaela Coel meets Teju
Cole' New York Times 'A love song to Black art and thought' Yaa Gyasi bestselling author of
HOMEGOING and TRANSCENDENT KINGDOM Two young people meet at a pub in South East London. Both
are Black British both won scholarships to private schools where they struggled to belong
both are now artists - he a photographer she a dancer - trying to make their mark in a city
that by turns celebrates and rejects them. Tentatively tenderly they fall in love. But two
people who seem destined to be together can still be torn apart by fear and violence. At once
an achingly beautiful love story and a potent insight into race and masculinity Open Water
asks what it means to be a person in a world that sees you only as a Black body to be
vulnerable when you are only respected for strength to find safety in love only to lose it.
With gorgeous soulful intensity Caleb Azumah Nelson has written the most essential British
debut of recent years. 'An amazing debut novel. You should read this book. Let's hear it for
Caleb Azumah Nelson also known as the future' Benjamin Zephaniah'A short poetic and
intellectual meditation on art and a relationship between a young couple' Bernardine Evaristo
author of GIRL WOMAN OTHER'A very touching and heartfelt book' Diana Evans award-winning
author of ORDINARY PEOPLE 'A lyrical modern love story brilliant on music and art race and
London life I enjoyed it hugely' David Nicholls author of ONE DAY and SWEET SORROW'Caleb is a
star in the making' Nikesh Shukla editor of THE GOOD IMMIGRANT and BROWN BABY'A stunning piece
of art' Bolu Babalola bestselling author of LOVE IN COLOUR'For those that are missing the
tentative depiction of love in Normal People Caleb Azumah Nelson's Open Water is set to become
one of 2021's unmissable books. Utterly transporting it'll leave you weeping and in awe.'
Stylist 'An exhilarating new voice in British fiction' Vogue 'A poetic novel about Black
identity and first love in the capital from one of Britain's most exciting young voices'
Harper's Bazaar'An intense elegant debut' GuardianWINNER OF THE COSTA FIRST NOVEL AWARD WINNER
OF DEBUT NOVEL OF THE YEAR AT THE BRITISH BOOK AWARDSSHORTLISTED FOR THE SUNDAY TIMES YOUNG
WRITER OF THE YEAR AWARD WINNER OF THE BAD FORM BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARDSHORTLISTED FOR
WATERSTONES BOOK OF THE YEARLONGLISTED FOR THE DYLAN THOMAS PRIZE THE DESMOND ELLIOTT PRIZE
AND THE GORDON BURN PRIZE A NATIONAL BOOK AWARD '5 UNDER 35' HONOREE Caleb Azumah Nelson's new
novel SMALL WORLDS is available now
