Synopses & Reviews
The audacious first novel from the award-winning and highly acclaimed Helen Oyeyemi.
Jessamy "Jess" Harrison is eight years old. Sensitive, whimsical, possessed of an extraordinary and powerful imagination, she spends hours writing haiku, reading Shakespeare, or simply hiding in the dark warmth of the airing cupboard. As the child of an English father and a Nigerian mother, Jess just can't shake off the feeling of being alone wherever she goes, and the other kids in her class are wary of her tendency to succumb to terrified fits of screaming. Believing that a change from her English environment might be the perfect antidote to Jess's alarming mood swings, her parents whisk her off to Nigeria for the first time where she meets her mother's family, including her formidable grandfather.
Jess's adjustment to Nigeria is only beginning when she encounters Titiola, or TillyTilly, a ragged little girl her own age. To Jess, it seems that, at last, she has found someone who will understand her. But gradually, TillyTilly's visits become more disturbing, making Jess start to realize that she doesn't know who TillyTilly is at all.
Helen Oyeyemi draws on Nigerian mythology to present a strikingly original variation on a classic literary theme: the existence of doubles, both real and spiritual, who play havoc with our perceptions and our lives. Lyrical, haunting, and compelling, The Icarus Girl is a story of twins and ghosts, of a little girl growing up between cultures and colors. It heralds the arrival of a remarkable new talent.
Review
"The Icarus Girl is an astonishing achievement." Sunday Telegraph (London)
Review
"Oyeyemi brilliantly conjures up the raw emotions and playground banter of childhood....A masterly first novel." The New York Times Book Review
Review
"Oyeyemi writes about childhood as if she were not inventing but truly remembering it, not through the distancing lens of time, but as scary and magical as it really was." San Francisco Chronicle
Review
"Remarkable....As original as it is unsettling, The Icarus Girl runs straight at the heart of what it means to belong." O, The Oprah Magazine
Review
"[The Icarus Girl] provides evidence of a vivid imagination capable of moving freely between cultures and continents....Haunting and suspense-filled." The Washington Post Book World
Review
"[E]choes of both Henry James and Stephen King....Related entirely from Jess's perspective, the book perfectly captures the fear and confusion of a child....Oyeyemi is a talent to watch." School Library Journal
Review
"[T]his ambitious psychodrama becomes repetitive in structure and can't always sustain the adult tone." Kirkus Reviews
Review
"Oyeyemi subtly weaves together Nigerian myth and a classic doppelganger tale to create a sensitive and precocious debut." Booklist
Synopsis
The audacious first novel from the award-winning and bestselling author of Boy, Snow, Bird and What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours - "Oyeyemi brilliantly conjures up the raw emotions and playground banter of childhood. . . . A masterly first novel."-The New York Times Book Review "Remarkable. . . . As original as it is unsettling, The Icarus Girl runs straight at the heart of what it means to belong."- O, The Oprah Magazine
Jessamy "Jess" Harrison, age eight, is the child of an English father and a Nigerian mother. Possessed of an extraordinary imagination, she has a hard time fitting in at school. It is only when she visits Nigeria for the first time that she makes a friend who understands her: a ragged little girl named TillyTilly. But soon TillyTilly's visits become more disturbing, until Jess realizes she doesn't actually know who her friend is at all. Drawing on Nigerian mythology, Helen Oyeyemi presents a striking variation on the classic literary theme of doubles -- both real and spiritual -- in this lyrical and bold debut.
About the Author
Helen Oyeyemi was born in Nigeria in 1984 and has lived in London from the age of four. She completed The Icarus Girl just before her nineteenth birthday, while studying for her A-levels. She is now a student of social and political sciences at Cambridge University. She has written two plays, Juniper's Whitening and Victimese. The Icarus Girl is her first novel, and she is at work on her second.