A novel. Coming in May, 2026
Pre-order from W. W. Norton (North America)
Pre-order from Masobe Books (Nigeria)
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Praise for One Leg on Earth:
“One Leg on Earth is a haunting, beautiful novel, written with exquisite care. A kind of horror story about the cost of ‘progress’ for a city, a culture, for a human soul. That horror is balanced by the potency of motherhood, its blessings and its trials. ‘Pemi Aguda writes like she knows magic and, based on this book, I believe it.” Victor LaValle, author of Lone Women
“’Pemi Aguda is a daring writer like no other, with a voice that is unique and powerful. One Leg on Earth is sharp, bold, nuanced, and utterly absorbent. I will read anything ’Pemi Aguda writes!” Nicole Dennis-Benn, best-selling author of Patsy and Here Comes the Sun
A fearless work of fiction in the lineage of Toni Morrison’s Sula. ‘Pemi Aguda writes beautifully about the ways realities can break and why sometimes they should be shattered.
Megan Giddings, author of Meet Me at the Crossroads
A portrait of a woman, a city, and a shared moment in time, and a story about how it feels when the changes in life are intertwined with bigger, scarier changes in the world outside. One Leg on Earth gripped me from the first page.
Ramona Ausubel, author of The Last Animal
Breathtaking! … Deliciously suspenseful and immensely human One Leg on Earth caught me in its wave and I happily, greedily, tumbled along.
Gerardo Sámano Córdova, author of Monstrillo
“A stunning achievement. ‘Pemi Aguda writes with luminous prose that feels both mystical and human. Brief and powerful, this conceptually daring novel haunted me long after I turned the last page.” Abi Daré, author of The Girl with the Louding Voice
“Through intricate and sumptuous prose, ’Pemi Aguda introduces us to a Lagos we have never known before, skillfully rendering its colors and peering into its shadowed corners. Every carefully chosen word draws the reader further into an intrigue that is all at once political, personal, and otherworldly. One Leg on Earth is an enchantment.” Shannon Sanders, author of Company
“Aguda deftly entwines the anxieties of parenting with speculative elements, setting her story in a nation still stained by colonialism.” One of TIME’s most anticipated books of 2026.
“In Aguda’s debut novel after her 2024 short story collection, Ghostroots, she uses beautiful prose to portray the haunting changes (both internal and external) of newfound motherhood.” Lucy Yu, Electric Literature’s “67 Books by Women of Color to Read in 2026”
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'Pemi Aguda 