Set between seventeenth-century Cape Verde and contemporary London, CURANDERA is a kaleidoscopic story of rebirth and redemption, and a mythic tale of metamorphic recalibrations across time

In Gethsemane, Cape Verde, the appearance of a mysterious new arrival, Zulmira, coincides with a series of strange events. Zulmira is a shamanic disciple of Oni, an omnipotent and loving yet vengeful deity.

In contemporary London, botanist Therese lives with Haitian musician Azacca, Peruvian drifter Emilien, and daring Finn. These four kindred spirits, bound together by their shared descent from Oni, travel to another realm to complete a secret, sacred task at Oni’s behest. But a disruptive object returns with them from the other plane: a bleeding ribcage, flowering with intoxicating fruit.

As Zulmira grows close to a fisherman, Domingos, and his wife and daughter, the increasingly disturbing occurrences in Gethsemane disrupt forms, time, and place. In London, Therese and her housemates, growing ever more powerful on the otherworldly fruit, discover the disturbing costs of their service to Oni. As the stage is set for the collision of two dimensions, the esoteric workings of shamanism intersect with powerful forces of friendship, love, and jealousy.

Story Locale:Cape Verde, London, UK

Format: Hardcover

Author: Okojie, Irenosen

Publisher: Soft Skull

Pub Date: July 8, 2025

Category: Fiction / World Literature / Africa

ISBN: 9781593767846

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Magical Realism