WINNER OF THE COSTA FIRST NOVEL AWARD 2021 WINNER OF DEBUT NOVEL OF THE YEAR AT THE BRITISH
BOOK AWARDS 2022 A 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' Guardian WINNER OF
THE COSTA FIRST NOVEL AWARD WINNER OF DEBUT NOVEL OF THE YEAR AT THE BRITISH BOOK AWARDS
SHORTLISTED FOR THE SUNDAY TIMES YOUNG WRITER OF THE YEAR AWARD WINNER OF THE BAD FORM BOOK
OF THE YEAR AWARD SHORTLISTED FOR WATERSTONES BOOK OF THE YEAR LONGLISTED 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
