Where You Go, I Will Go
the emotional and redemptive family saga
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4.7 • 3 Ratings
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- £3.99
Publisher Description
Two women search for a place of belonging, in this stunning novel that will break your heart and lift you up.
'Evocative and exhilarating. Christina Fonthes is a fresh and powerful new writer with a beautiful voice and bold talent'
Salena Godden, author of Mrs. Death Misses Death
'A wonderful, vital novel exploring familial legacies and queer lives. Fonthes deftly charts the complex paths of these characters with real verve and authenticity'
Irenosen Okojie MBE
'A captivating read from an exciting new voice'
Cherie Jones, author of How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House
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London, 2004. Bijoux has a secret. To the world, she is the obedient child, dutifully attending prayer meetings and following the rigid expectations of her silent and austere Pentecostal aunt, Tantine Mireille. But Bijoux is in love with a woman. She has been for a year. When her aunt wants her to marry one of the young men from the church, Bijoux has to make a decision.
Kinshasa, 1980s. Mira is the teenage daughter of a family on the rise. When she falls in love with an impoverished singer, a criminal the eyes of her parents, her choices will set her on a dramatic path that winds its way across oceans and decades.
Vividly bringing to life the Congo and its diaspora, Where You Go, I Will Go weaves Bijoux and Mira's stories together across two continents, two generations, through the mess of love and sexuality, and the pull of mother-daughter relationships, to finally bring them to a place of belonging - home.
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'Actually can't believe this is a debut!' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ Real reader review
'I was totally immersed in Mira and Bijoux's world' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ Real reader review
'I sobbed multiple times' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ Real reader review
'These characters [will] have you holding your breath and hoping they will find true happiness' #11088; ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ Real reader review
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Rising literary star Christina Fonthes was mentored by Booker Prize winner Bernardine Evaristo, which sets hopes for her first novel sky-high. Where You Go, I Will Go, a story which spans continents and takes in everything from identity, religion and sexuality to the immigrant experience, more than meets them. Fonthes deftly weaves together the stories of teenager Mira, from an up-and-coming Congolese family in Kinshasa in the 1980s, and Bijoux, a young British-Congolese woman in London in 2004. Mira’s parents disapprove when she falls in love with a singer; Bijoux’s love for another woman sets her at odds with her aunt, who wants her to marry a man from her church. What must they endure to be themselves? Beautifully descriptive of both locations, the book also immerses the reader fully in the heroines’ emotional lives and battles to live authentically. We can’t wait to read more from Fonthes.
