Seemingly a novel about a marriage, it is a complex book discussing several important and controversial topics. What makes a modern marriage work? How can a woman find the balance between motherhood and career? Can she? Should she? What does it feel like when society and family suffocates you with expectations? Is it OK to have children and want something else, something more?

With lots of interesting characters and tough decisions, this book is an emotional rollercoaster. A perfect book club read.

The narration by Diana Yekinni and Clifford Samuel was amazing.

Many thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK Audio for an Advance Review Copy.

Thanks to The Borough Press and NetGalley for this Audio ARC

I’m stunned.
Nothing prepared me for this.

Beautiful writing
A plot with a twist
Messy mess
Not picture perfect
Life interrupted
An end to a beginning

I’m still in awe.

“They don’t know yet, how easily an unplanned life can surface and settle like waking up to a snow covered world where everything recognizable is buried.”

"People—even the ones who love you—can be a weight around your neck. You just have to choose which weight you want to carry. And I’m strong. This. This I can live with."

Set between London and Ghana, Krystle tells the story of Efe and Sam. One is burdened with the expectations of family and comes crumbling when the weight becomes unbearable, while the other is consumed by his career pursuit and the structured life he envisions for his future. Yet the two fall deeply in love, but their differences will test their love.

"I wonder why we do that," she says. "Do what?" "Measure a woman’s strength by the amount she is able to endure."

Krystle presents us with a heartbreaking story on love, motherhood, and belonging. The vulnerability, the passion, the heartaches, and the frustration will have you fully invested and in your feelings. The character development was top-tier, and her portrayal of community, especially the Ghanaian community, was so rich. I really loved it. She molded two different characters coming of age, fighting their individual battles and traumas, and bringing them together through the ups and downs of friendship blossoming into love and then into marriage. But throughout this novel, Krystle weaves this lingering question: "Is love enough? Can love and regret be mutually exclusive?"

What I loved most about this book is its simplicity, but the ending, y'all, I am not okay with. I loved it, and I highly recommend it.

4.5 Thank you Netgalley for the Arc.

Review:
This book is an emotional roller coaster. It’s a drama-filled, suspenseful story. After holding your breath for something good, the author breaks your heart into tiny little pieces. I was like WHAT!!! HOW!!!
The writing in this book is great. The author did a beautiful job of unfolding a complex story with a touch of grace for each character. By the time I got to the end, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for each character. The story drew me in with a heavy pull, with such a force that I couldn’t help but finish the audiobook in a few hours.
This story is unforgettable. I am shocked that this is Appiah’s debut novel.
I loved that the book explored Ghanaian culture- people, places, food, customs and traditions. I think at a point I felt, the writing is over-embellished with Ghanaian-ness.
The two PoVs made me appreciate each character’s complex story. I think the author did a great job with PoVs. Each character is flawed and acts out of passion and hope.
I don’t know how I feel about the audiobook, the Twi is wrong and most of the pronunciations of the Ghanaian names are wrong.
I highly highly recommend this book!

I found this book enjoyable. I liked the narrators’ voices and tone.
This book, despite its name, was authentic to both of its voices- the Ghanian and the British. I felt like all characters were well developed with their actions very justifiable and very realistic. The writer does an excellent job telling us this story of friendship and love and discussing the more difficult aspects of relationships without making one character a monster.

Rootless by Krystle Zara Appiah

Thank you Ballantine books and netgalley for gifting me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Honestly, I envy everyone who will encounter this book for the first time. What a spectacular debut! I loved it so much!

I liked; the Ghanaian representation in this book is well done, the subtlety of how the story unfolds, the theme of love, regret and motherhood, the story was written brilliantly, how the book tore my heart into bits.Emotional damage!!

What I didn’t like(I won’t say I didn’t like it because it’s understandable):
The audiobook narration was excellent and fun but the mispronunciation of some Ghanaian names and terms had me rolling on the floor. It’s definitely not going to bother you if you’re not Ghanaian.

I’m highly going to be recommending this every single time because I did not only enjoy it, I LOVED IT!!

Authentically written and narrated. Brilliant read and storyline. Genuinely loved the authors take on the complex fabric that we ‘call family’. A family comes in many forms and shows strengths at different times. Loved the Ghanaian references. Could relate to some of them which helped to enjoy the book that little bit more.

I have been speechless, in shock and in pain after reading rootless. 3 hours after reading this book and I feel the same way. One question on my tongue “Why”, “why”, Zara Appiah why
Why did you have to kill Efe.
Rootless is a bundle of emotions. I love this book because of how simple and straightforward the language is - no long talks.
The story telling is straight to the point

I love how the themes tackled are real time issues like body autonomy. This book brings to bear the question of body agency. Was Efe right to have an abortion without her husbands consent?
It also brings to light the arguments people make for people who do not want kids. They usually say they would grow out of it. Efe was a grown woman, what was she growing out of?

I felt Sam was selfish. He was thinking about himself and the ideal life be created in his head. He didn’t for once consider how Efe felt . He wanted Efe to be the one to make the adjustments and not him.

I love how resilient they stood through it out. How much they remembered that they loved themselves and could fight the problem together. Efe was a body of uncertainty and fatigue. Borne from years of doing what everyone wanted but herself.

I’m addition, the Ghanaianess of this book wasn’t missing. Parents who want their kids married with grandchildren. The expectations of African parents for their kids to excel at all cost. And oh it’s very Ghanaian for a child to have two names - English and a native name ( house name). And most times only their grandparents call them by this native name. Like Live . She was Olive and Ama .

This book is easily a 5 star because I did not see the end coming.
The author is good. Extremely good
I stan good content any day

Feedback for audiobook narrators and publishers

Please learn how to pronounce names, food and places correctly. The name is Nana Adwoa not Nana Adowa. Publishers and authors should be checking these things. It makes it difficult and irritating to listen when you keep getting these basic things wrong.

Multi-issue story, emotional and honest, upsetting and heartfelt.

4.5 stars.

It might have been a 5-star read for me, but I was actually quite angry at the end, the denouement was quite shattering after everything that had gone before, and I was upset with the author for choosing as she did. But that does not make it badly written, wrong or anything of the sort - I knew what ending I wanted, and I didn't get it (don't worry, no spoilers).

Before this however, the story of one couple and their family was riveting. With bookmarks in the present, a marriage is clearly in trouble as Sam desperately tries to make contact with his wife Efe, overseas and refusing to come home to him and their daughter. What has happened and can it be resolved? We then move backwards to them meeting as sixth formers nearly two decades earlier, where Sam and Efe are drawn to each other as friends instantly. They have ideas about their futures, though Efe's family are putting pressure on her to take a certain direction. Both need the non-judgemental friendship to make it through the early days of adulthood, of first relationships, university and jobs.

Eventually ending up a couple, the reader is taken through the heartbreak of several life-changing events, including Efe's childhood bullying, post-natal depression and working through the early days of parenthood as a couple, family illness. Until we reach the point the book began at.

I felt rather closer to Efe than Sam, I could empathise very strongly with her views on motherhood, and could see the cracks in their relationship stemming from miscommunications and a failure to see each other's wants and needs.

Seeing their lives through the lens of Ghanaian culture, with family emphasis on academics and lots of babies was also an eye-opener for someone like me, allowed free rein over my own life choices.

Some very moving scenes and situations, and a well-portrayed marriage.

This was an audio read for me, vacillating between two authentic voices of our characters, it felt seamless and worked as a dual narrative, the story flowed nicely despite movement in time periods without needing to see it written down.

It may affect readers quite deeply as it doesn't hold back in some very upsetting areas and does leave its mark on you.

With thanks to Netgalley for providing a sample audio copy.

Rootless absolutely flawed me. I am not entirely sure how to put in words this journey. What I can say is this wasn’t the journey I expected to go on but it was an emotional, heartbreaking and special one that will stay with me.

A raw story of motherhood (uncomfortable in its revealing nature but highly necessary), childhood love, expectations, family, finding your self and second chances.

The structure and dual POV were wonderfully executed and pulled back the layers of this complex love story and both Sam and Efe.

Both narrators were perfect and brought the characters and their internal monologues to life.

I loved the rich portrayal of Ghana in the setting and in the array of side characters, who themselves have emotional stories I would love to hear, and am so grateful stories like this are being told.

Thank you Borough Press for the chance to listen to this book!

Let me somehow try to deliver an accurate review while still fighting back tears and a trembly lip. If I don’t see this climbing the best seller list on release I will eat my phone, well maybe not that’s a bit dangerous but I’ll be shocked.

T/w racism, racist violence, self harm, mental illness.

I can’t believe this is a debut. It’s an emotional rollercoaster. Written with such care and compassion but definitively not afraid to pack a punch. It actually physically hurt to read/listen. It has such a raw beauty. It felt like I had gone along on a journey with a friend. Efe resonated so strongly with me, I rooted for Sam to be the man she needed. A powerful and unforgettable insight into a marriage thrown into disrepair by an unplanned child.

The contrast between England and Ghana was written so beautifully it was tangible.

I cannot wait to see what’s next for the astoundingly talented Krystle Zara Appiah.

Both narrators have done a beautiful job too.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins U.K. for the opportunity to listen to this audiobook in return for an honest review.

Actual rating 4.5.

Well I’ve just been destroyed by this emotional debut 😭 What a devastating and relatable look at a marriage in trouble because they have such different stands on one of the biggest decisions a couple can make.

I love the way that my opinion on our two main characters changed so much as the story unfolded - the opening chapters definitely set you up to support one person, but then as time passed and their history was revealed I did a complete 180! That’s not to say anyone in this novel is a villain, because they’re both good people who just want different things out of life and that’s the hardest part about it.

What made this book so special for me was seeing so many of my own feelings and experiences of motherhood reflected in Efe’s - her pain was a tangible thing to me, and I completely understood her behaviour, although the train incident had my heart in my throat for a while 😱 But imagine struggling with motherhood and having a whole community of elders pass judgement? There were some times I could’ve thrown the book across the room, that’s for sure!

This is a real standout debut - beautifully written, with flawed, fully dimensional characters and elements I’m sure many people will relate to. Just have the tissues at the ready…

Rootless
by Krystle Zara Appiah

A character driven story about love and marriage, expectations and resentments, communication and understanding and the overwhelm of motherhood. The two main characters are written with such precision and heart. Efe, a Ghanaian woman who has moved to Britain and is struggling to achieve her family's expectations. Sam, he considers Britain his home, he is ambitious and focused. Their love story is perfect. But something has gone horribly wrong and the book opens with Sam's realisation that Efe has fled to Ghana, leaving him to cope with their young daughter alone. How did the perfect marriage come to this?

The story pulls us backwards in time to understand how and through alternating narratives we see how badly Sam wants a family and how alien motherhood is to Efe. It speaks of the alienation and sacrifice that motherhood can bring, but also what can happen when one is unseen and feels trapped in a reality that they haven't chosen for themselves.

I really like the way the author plays with the sense of Home, be it a location or a group of people. I love the parts set in Ghana among the streets of Accra. I like the way she introduces us to African culture and family with their traditional attitudes to morality and ethics. Trigger warnings abound.

She brings the story together very well at the end, but I wish the past was much shorter. I know what she was doing, she was reinforcing all the ways the marriage let both Efe and Sam down, how he didn't see it coming and was so ignorant of his wife's core values, but it went on too long and lost some momentum.

I have to commend both narrators for bringing Efe and Sam to life. I appreciated the pronunciation of the Twi phrases, and I loved the voices they gave to each character, especially the Ghanaian accents.

Overall a very accomplished debut with strong voices and complex themes. I can't wait to see what this author produces next.

Publication date: 16th March 2023