UMAR TURAKI
Umar Turaki is a writer and filmmaker from Jos, Nigeria. He holds an MFA in creative writing from the University of British Columbia. Every Drop of Blood Is Red is his second novel. For more information, visit www.umarturaki.com.
EVERY DROP OF BLOOD IS RED
Little A, 2024
Lives intersect for a young woman on a quest for revenge and a family man with a violent past in a haunting and provocative novel by the author of Such a Beautiful Thing to Behold.
In Jos, Nigeria, Dareng Pamson is slowly winning back the trust of his pregnant wife after his infidelity shook their marriage. When a young Muslim woman comes in out of the rain looking for work in Dareng’s auto repair shop, Dareng cautiously agrees―against his better judgment. She’s passionate and willing to learn. Besides, it’s time he started doing things differently.
After being back in her hometown for only a week, Murmula Denge finds who she’s looking for: Dareng, the Christian man whose coldhearted ambition and greed shattered her family. At first, she wants only to destroy his tenuous peace by introducing chaos. Until Murmula realises that for true closure and justice, she must go to extremes. Blood for blood.
Neither is prepared for the mysterious turning point that changes their lives forever. As they navigate the quandary of faith and the strange new ties that bind them, coming to terms with the past is only the beginning.
Adventurous mystery fans will be rewarded with a tense and pensive suspense tale.” —Publishers Weekly
“Every Drop of Blood Is Red marries a thrilling, twisty premise with a moral inquiry about where we’re taken once we reach the end point of vengeance. Umar Turaki is among the most dazzling and inventive novelists I’ve come upon in years.” ―Kevin Chong, The Double Life of Benson Yu
SUCH A BEAUTIFUL THING TO BEHOLD
Little A/Amazon, 2022
*A GOOD MORNING AMERICA recommended read for May
An inexplicable sickness. A small town cut off from the world. An unexpected community of survivors forges a family out of the despair, struggling against things known and unknown for survival and hope.
A mysterious plague known as the Grey grips the small village of Pilam, which the world has quarantined without pity. Laying waste to Pilam’s residents, the sickness saps its victims of strength, drains the color from their eyes, and kills all promise. Only the young are immune. But beyond the barricades and walls of soldiers―the manifestation of a nation’s terror―there are rumors of a cure. Dunka, the eldest son of a family reeling from the Grey, takes on the daunting task of leaving Pilam to find that cure for his siblings and save them before it’s too late.
His brother and sisters, however, have plans of their own. Navigating the chaos of violence, hunger, and death, each of them tries to make sense of the bleak circumstances, forging new bonds with other juvenile survivors left to their own devices. Now an unlikely family of six, they choose their own perilous paths, at first separately and then together, coming to terms with the decisions they make and the ghosts they cannot leave behind.
Umar Turaki’s gripping novel is a story of survival, love, and the human spirit’s tenacious capacity for wonder.
“Heartfelt, engaging….. the novel illuminates the best and the worst humans have to offer, delving deep into what it means to love…Turaki has taken the classic pandemic novel and infused it with his own brand of hope…A must-read novel.” — Locus
“Turaki highlights the power of the everyday in this terrifying yet elegant read.” — GOOD MORNING AMERICA