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Transcendent Kingdom

Shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2021

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Transcendent Kingdom

By: Yaa Gyasi
Narrated by: Bahni Turpin
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Brought to you by Penguin.

From the bestselling author of Homegoing comes a searing novel of love and loss, addiction and redemption, straight from the heart of contemporary America.

As a child Gifty would ask her parents to tell the story of their journey from Ghana to Alabama, seeking escape in myths of heroism and romance. When her father and brother succumb to the hard reality of immigrant life in the American South, their family of four becomes two - and the life Gifty dreamed of slips away.

Years later, desperate to understand the opioid addiction that destroyed her brother's life, she turns to science for answers. But when her mother comes to stay, Gifty soon learns that the roots of their tangled traumas reach farther than she ever thought. Tracing her family's story through continents and generations will take her deep into the dark heart of modern America.

'I would say that Transcendent Kingdom is a novel for our time (and it is) but it is so much more than that. It is a novel for all times. The splendor and heart and insight and brilliance contained in the pages holds up a light the rest of us can follow' Ann Patchett

'Absolutely transcendent. A gorgeously woven narrative . . . not a word or idea out of place. THE RANGE. I am quite angry this is so good' Roxane Gay

'A stirringly gifted writer' New York Times

© Yaa Gyasi 2020 (P) Penguin Audio 2020

 African American Family Life Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction United States World Literature Heartfelt Inspiring Tear-jerking Thought-Provoking
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Critic reviews

A brilliant novel, with not a word out of place (Caleb Azumah Nelson)
A piercing story of faith, science and the opioid crisis . . . Transcendent Kingdom really sings. There's bravery as well as beauty here
Transcendent Kingdom is a novel for all times
Absolutely transcendent. A gorgeously woven narrative . . . not a word or idea out of place. I am quite angry this is so good
Transcendent Kingdom is a quietly magnificent novel - vivid, touching and beautifully written, and also unafraid to be, and to remain, really very sad.
Her equally outstanding second novel, Transcendent Kingdom, smaller in scale, is another graceful exploration of trauma reverberating through a family...introspective and intimate
This novel is an unflinching account of loss, but it is also a moving tribute to the ability of the human spirit to endure such tragedies
Gyasi's novel is a thoughtful analysis of a pressing social problem
Among other things [Transcendent Kingdom] is a sharp reckoning with the tensions between race, science and religion...its scope is pared back, its register intimate - not many writers can switch style like this
A powerful portrayal of love and faith that reminds us how our parents' actions can ripple through generations
All stars
Most relevant
My first genre-love is fantasy. I always liked the idea of being able to reflect upon society through this lens and explore and think about uncomfortable topics without the brashness of reality.

Transcendental Kingdom is not fantasy. It deals with triggering topics head on - mental illness within the black community, living as an immigrant (from Africa to the American South), familial loss, addiction, single parent hood and also the stress that comes with ideas about religion and science and questions why the two are perceived as being on opposite ends of a spectrum. It also explores the nature of complex mother-daughter relationships.

You might think that it's a lot for one book. You might also think it's bound to be gritty, or urban. It's not. It's not romanticised either. How? Well, the story is a personal, even intimate one, following Gifty as she studies neuroscience at Stanford School of Medicine, exploring the nature of reward seeking behaviour and addiction. Her wandering mind takes us through her life by the most intricate route - the writer has the most wonderful way of weaving flashbacks into the narrative, making time changes fluid and natural. Gifty's circumstances and mind are unique but her experiences are universal, poignantly expressed and deeply relatable. The book is like those renaissance pictures that you look at and appreciate in one spot but as you stand back and take time to study the whole picture, you realise just how detailed and profound it really is.

Littered throughout the story are interesting studies and theories that will inspire you to do more reading on the topics, should the themes explored interest you. Gifty's handling of taboo is made accessible to all with her curious mind - aware of all social convention and restriction - but still full of wonder anyway. For Audible, Bahni Turpin did an amazing job of capturing the purity of Gifty's mind, the innocence of her questioning that remains even after the changes she experiences growing up are revealed layer by layer.

This is not action based or gritty and dark, but it did hit hard, sneaking up on my emotions and catching me off guard. This book made me shed a tear or two in the last quarter. Easily one of the best reads of 2020 for me.

Beautiful, thought-provoking, educational

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The storyline is so relatable and covers so many aspects of life that I have seen myself - from mental health, to religion and to the experience of being a child of the diaspora. It is all tenderly handled and so beautifully read. The voices of each character are probably the best I've heard in any audio book so far and not distracting at all (as sometimes they can be on audio books). This is a beautiful book and bought me to tears at points as I listened throughout my day. It's such a gift when someone can articulate your experiences through story and this book does just that.

Exceptionally read audio book

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This story felt real and sad at the same time.
Unfortunately, I do feel like the ending was somewhat rushed as many questions were left unanswered.

Mum was a pivotal character, yet her passing was literally mentioned in passing.
The queries with her daughter's seemingly troubled family past was starting to leak into her own life and ways of thinking, but that too , I felt, had ended abruptly . I think I felt this way because the beginning and middle of the book was in enough detail to hold my attention.

It is a heartfelt story but an abrupt ending

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I really enjoyed Yaa Gyasi’s last book and had high hopes for this one. I took a while to get into it but J am so glad I did. A poignant deep dive into religion, immigrant life and finding ways of coping with the death of a sibling. I’m glad I got to the every end. The narrator was excellent.

Worth persevering

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A Ghanaian migrant family in Alabama look for redemption in God but the challenges and reality of life make tge narrator reflect on her faith.

A novel about science and faith

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