Rootless

There are two sides to every love story… ‘[An] involving debut novel … Appiah paints a hard-hitting picture’ THE TIMES ‘A poignant debut which marks Krystle Zara Appiah out as one of Britain’s best new young writers’HARPER’S BAZAAR ‘A beautiful, emotional rollercoaster’ LIZZIE DAMILOLA BLACKBURN, author of Yinka, where is your huzband? ‘Both tender and powerful’ LOUISE O’NEILL ‘Beautiful and gripping… unforgettable’ EMILIA HART Teenagers Efe and Sam first meet in London in the 1990s. Years later the best friends are married. Their love story couldn’t seem more perfect. But Sam wants to start a family. Efe wants to be free from children to focus on her dreams. When an unplanned pregnancy forces them to confront their differences,Efe and Sam must discover if what they really want is still each other… A poignant, heart-breaking debut about a British-Ghanaian marriage in crisis, Rootless is a story of friendship, family, societal obligation and motherhood. But above all, it’s a story of love. ‘An open and honest exploration of the rediscovery of love, motherhood, and the choices we make and sacrifice’ GAL-DEM ‘Highly relatable… your heart will miss a beat’HUFFPOST UK ‘Brave, insightful and heart-breaking’RACHEL EDWARDS ‘Efe’s tragic story will stay with readers long after they finish turning pages’DONNA FREITAS, author of The Nine Lives of Rose Napolitano ‘Tender, intimate and unflinching’EMYLIA HALL ‘A deeply felt novel… full of romance as well as terrible grief. Rootless enthralled me from the start’ ILANA MASAD, author of All My Mother’s Lovers

‘Both tender and powerful; almost unbearably moving. It broke my heart’ LOUISE O’NEILL ‘Involving… paints a hard-hitting picture of how desperate it is to feel that what society insists is the best thing that can happen to you is, in fact, the absolute worst’ THE TIMES ‘Brave, insightful and heart-breaking’ RACHEL EDWARDS ‘Beautiful and gripping… unforgettable’ EMILIA HART ‘Powerful and bittersweet’ DAILY MAIL ‘Mesmerising and tender’ WOMAN’S WEEKLY ‘An open and honest exploration of the rediscovery of love, motherhood, and the choices we make and sacrifice.’ GAL-DEM ‘Highly relatable… your heart will miss a beat’ HUFFPOST UK ‘Tender, intimate and unflinching’ EMYLIA HALL ‘Skillfully told’ MARIE CLAIRE ‘One to watch’ GOOD HOUSEKEEPING ‘Get ready to be heart-broken’ COSMOPOLITAN ‘A debut novel that deserves to find many readers… a must-read’PRIMA ‘A heartbreaking tale about motherhood and freedom’ The i paper ‘A poignant debut which marks Krystle Zara Appiah out as one of Britain’s best new young writers’ HARPER’S BAZAAR ‘A deeply felt novel… full of romance as well as terrible grief. Rootless enthralled me from the start.’ ILANA MASAD, author of All My Mother’s Lovers ‘Efe’s tragic story will stay with readers long after they finish turning pages’ DONNA FREITAS, author of The Nine Lives of Rose Napolitano

Krystle Zara Appiah is a British-Ghanaian writer, editor and screenwriter based in London. She has a degree in literature and creative writing from the University of Kent. In 2020, she was one of forty writers selected for the London Library’s Emerging Writers Programme. Rootless is her debut novel.

Book Partnerships

For the Fans