They Dream in Gold

SHORTLISTED FOR THE CENTER FOR FICTION FIRST NOVEL PRIZE 2024

A Real Simple Best Book of 2024A Washington Post Best Book of SummerA TIME Best Book of July

When Bonnie and Mansour meet in New York in 1968his piercing gaze in a downtown jazz club threatening to carry her awaytheir connection is undeniable. Both from fractured homes, with childhoods spent crossing the Atlantic, they quickly find peace with each other. And as Mansours soaring Senegalese melodies continue to break new ground, keeping time with the sound of revolution and taking him and Bonnie from Paris to Rio and Switzerland, it seems as though happiness might finally be around the corner for them both.

Then Mansour goes missing. His Spanish tour was only meant to last three weeks, but three months later, he and his band have not returned. In his absence, Bonnie reckons with her memories of him, and comes to understand that the hopes of so many womenher mother and grandmother; his mother, aunt, childhood friendrest on her perseverance. Stirred by the life growing inside her, Bonnie puts a plan in action to find him.

Spanning two decades and moving through the hotbeds of the African diaspora, They Dream in Gold is an epic yet intimate exploration of the migrant hunger for belonging and a powerful, intergenerational testament to our shared humanity, for lovers of Tara Stringfellows Memphis and Abi Dars The Girl with the Louding Voice.

Epic and hauntingly beautiful. Nguyn Phan Qu Mai
Wholly original. Thao Thai
“One of the most beautiful debuts Ive ever read. Dawnie Walton