Under Water

By J.L. Powers
Paperback: $12.95

Seventeen-year-old Khosi dreams of finishing school–but how can she chase dreams while navigating rising violence in her South African township and trying to provide for her sister? A moving sequel to the award-winning This Thing Called the Future.

Description

It’s been three years since Khosi and her family dealt with her mother’s illness, and now her beloved grandmother has died. Khosi is left to survive on her own and take up the responsibilities of her household. She must care for her little sister, make a living as a traditional healer, and somehow, despite everything, finish school. When her urban township in South Africa flares up in violence, Khosi finds herself at the center of the storm.

A taxi war threatens the safety of every person in town. Accusations of witchcraft swirl around her, despite her every effort to keep her healing practice aboveboard. And her boyfriend has taken another path, one without her in it. The pressure is on as Khosi learns to become the healing woman who her family, her community, and her ancestors need the most.

About the Creators

J.L. Powers
J.L. Powers

J.L. Powers is a novelist and scholar. Her recent novel This Thing Called the Future is a coming of age story set in post-Apartheid South Africa. Her previous anthology was Labor Pains and Birth Stories. She holds master's degrees in African History from State University of New York-Albany and Stanford University, and won a Fulbright-Hayes to study Zulu in South Africa, and served as a visiting scholar in Stanford's African Studies Department in 2008 and 2009. She lives in San Francisco's Bay area.

Reviews

  • "Engaging. The depiction of life in Imbali is raw and honest, the struggles of the characters elicit sympathy, and Khosi's questions about what she's meant to do in life will ring familiar with young adult readers."

    - Booklist
  • "The treasures at the heart of this story are Khosi's relationships—with her sister, whom she would do anything to protect; and with the ancestors, whose interference in her life is at times helpful, at times exasperating."

    - The Horn Book
  • "Intriguing. . . This slowly building novel avoids stereotype, offering a captivating narrative with nuanced perceptions of death, love, and cathartic self-discovery."

    - Kirkus Reviews
  • "Powers has crafted an inspirational YA story filled with mystery, suspense, and drama. . . All readers will easily root for Khosi, who makes a way out of loss with love and faith; a strong choice for teen libraries."

    - School Library Journal

Paperback

  • ISBN 9781947627048
  • Price $12.95
  • Publication Date Mar 19, 2019
  • Trim Size 9 × 6 in
  • Weight 0.6875 lbs
  • Page Count 208
  • Hardcover

  • ISBN 9781947627031
  • Price $17.95
  • Publication Date Mar 19, 2019
  • Trim Size 9 × 6 in
  • Weight 1 lbs
  • Page Count 208
  • Interests

  • Imprint Cinco Puntos Press
  • Audience Young Adult
  • BISAC Category 1 YAF / Social Themes / Self-Esteem & Self-Reliance
  • BISAC Category 2 YAF / People & Places / Africa
  • BISAC Category 3 YAF / Girls & Women
  • Themes African / African American / Black, Coping with Death, Courage, Families, Fiction, Realistic Fiction, Teen Interest, War, YA interest
  • Reading Levels

  • Age Range Ages 14 - 18
  • Grade Range Grades 9 - 12
  • Guided Reading Z+
  • Interest Level Grades 7 - 12
  • Lexile Code HL
  • Lexile Level 690
  • ADA Site Compliance-Accessibility Policy