A Down Home Meal for These Difficult Times

A poignant and compelling collection of short stories about those whose lives have been marked by the risk of displacement, from the winner of the AKO Caine Prize WINNER OF THE HURSTON/WRIGHT LEGACY AWARD FOR DEBUT FICTION SHORTLISTED FOR THE WILLIAM SAROYAN INTERNATIONAL PRIZE FOR WRITING 2024FICTION FINALIST FOR THE WILLIAM SAROYAN INTERNATIONAL PRIZE FOR WRITING 2024 SHORTLISTED FOR THE MUSEUM OF AFRICAN DIASPORA AFRICAN LITERARY AWARD 2023FINALIST FOR THE PEN/ROBERT W. BINGHAM PRIZE FOR DEBUT SHORT STORY COLLECTION 2023FINALIST FOR THE CHAUTAUQUA PRIZE 2023LONGLISTED FOR THE STORY PRIZE 2023'Witty and wistful, complex and heartbreaking' Brit BennettAn enterprising young man on the verge of losing his home in Addis Ababa pursues an improbable opportunity to turn his life around. A woman visiting her country of origin for the first time finds that an ordinary object opens up an unexpected, complex bridge between worlds. An intergenerational friendship forms between two refugees living in Iowa who have connections to Germany before the fall of the Berlin Wall.Kaleidoscopic, powerful and illuminative, the stories in A Down Home Meal for These Difficult Times expand our understanding of the essential and universal need for connection and the vital refuge of home.