They Dream In Gold
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- £8.99
Publisher Description
An electrifying Afrobeat love story about a young Senegalese jazz musician and an aspiring African American producer thrown together by chance, and destined to make music that will change the world.
'Extraordinary' - The New York Times
'A mouth-watering delight . . . subtle yet striking' - Sarah Jessica Parker
'A glorious debut . . . a richly layered account of artistic endeavour and resilience' - Guardian
Shortlisted for The Center for Fiction First Novel Prize 2024
Bonnie, a lost American girl with a troubled past.
Mansour, a gifted musician about to be discovered by the world.
When they meet at a jazz club in New York City, 1968, it is clear they are meant to be together. As they tour the globe, from Paris to Rio and Switzerland, stardom seems only a heartbeat away. But now Mansour is missing, and Bonnie, pregnant with their baby, must find him.
In They Dream in Gold, Mai Sennaar takes us across oceans and continents as we chart their once-in-a-lifetime love.
'One of the most beautiful debuts I’ve ever read' - Dawnie Walton, author of The Final Revival of Opal & Nev
'A sweeping, fascinating book' - The Times
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Sennaar debuts with a remarkable chronicle of a young couple separated by mysterious circumstances and their families' attempts to forge better lives in the American South and Senegal. In 1969, Bonnie Ndoye, a young African American woman, is pregnant and living in Switzerland with her Senegalese mother-in-law, Mama Eva. It's been three months since Bonnie has heard from her husband, Mansour, a singer who recently toured Spain to promote his first album, and who should have returned by now. She can't help but wonder if Mansour has abandoned her and their child, recalling how her own mother, Claudine, neglected her as a girl in the 1950s to become a ballerina. Eventually, Sennaar reveals the source of the Ndoyes' generational trauma, showing how Claudine's emotionally distant mother witnessed the murder of her civil rights lawyer father as a teen. A parallel narrative follows Mama Eva, who abandoned a young Mansour for Paris, where she toiled as a dishwasher, and is now about to realize her life-long dream of opening a Senegalese restaurant. Sennaar impresses with her colorful cast of characters and deep well of stories. It's a stunner.
