Additional information
by Khadija Abdalla Bajaber (Author)
The first Graywolf Press African Fiction Prize winner, a story of a girl's fantastical sea voyage to rescue her father
The House of Rust is an enchanting novel about a Hadhrami girl in Mombasa. When her fisherman father goes missing, Aisha takes to the sea on a magical boat made of a skeleton to rescue him. She is guided by a talking scholar's cat (and soon crows, goats, and other animals all have their say, too). On this journey Aisha meets three terrifying sea monsters. After she survives a final confrontation with Baba wa Papa, the father of all sharks, she rescues her own father, and hopes that life will return to normal. But at home, things only grow stranger.
Author Biography
Khadija Abdalla Bajaber is a Mombasarian writer of Hadhrami descent and the winner of the inaugural Graywolf Press Africa Prize. Her work has appeared in Enkare Review, Lolwe, and Down River Road, among other places. She lives in Mombasa, Kenya.
