THE OPPOSITE HOUSE

Rich and witty ... it confirms Helen Oyeyemi as a true originalAli Smith
Powerful ... wonderfully unsettling ... Oyeyemis raw style is greatTime Out
Beautiful ... this is about the difficulties of knowing who you are, especially if you are born of several incompatible cultures. It has the ring of truthThe Times

Maja Carmen Carrera was only five years old when her black Cuban family emigrated from the Caribbean to London, leaving her with one complete memory: a woman singing - in a voice both eerie and enthralling - at their farewell party, while little Maja peered out from beneath a table.

Now, almost twenty years later, Maja herself is a singer, in love with Aaron, pregnant and haunted by what she calls her Cuba. Growing up in London, she has struggled to negotiate her history and the sense that speaking the Spanish or the English of her peoples conquistadors made her less of a black girl. But she is unable to find in herself the Ewe, Igbo, or Swahili of her roots. It seems all thats left is silence.

And on the other side of the reality wall, Yemaya Saramagua, Yemaya of the ocean, lives in the Somewherehouse with two doors: one opening to London, the other to Lagos. Yemaya is troubled by the ease with which her fellow gods have disguised themselves as saints and reappeared under different names and faces...
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The Opposite House is about the disquiet that follows us across places and languages, a feeling passed down from mother and father to son and daughter. It is an unforgettable second novel from the author of The Icarus Girl.