Habila

From the acclaimed author of She Would Be King, a dazzling and daring work of magical realism that weaves through the lives of a Liberian immigrant family and the water goddess who haunts them.

In this ambitious new novel, bestselling and prize-winning author Wayétu Moore brings us into the lives of a young girl, Melanctha, and her family in the aftermath of the loss of their patriarch, Tokpa. They relocate from Liberia to the small town of Hunt, Texas—a place that proves hostile to them—until one day a school bully pushes Melanctha into a lake, and she discovers that she can breathe underwater.

Melanctha learns that her ability comes from Habila, a beautiful, beguiling half-woman, half-sea deity who grants her a gift: a comb that, when touched, can lure people into the water and make them disappear forever.

But Melanctha’s power comes at a cost. Habila has languished alone for millennia, blaming men for her suffering. She harbors a hatred so intense that she has devoted herself to ridding the world of them. As Melanctha’s bond with Habila deepens, a family mystery begins to unravel, and Melanctha discovers that the siren may be hiding secrets of her own.

Inspired by the African legend of Mami Wata, Habila is a kaleidoscopic tale tracing a family and a young woman across time as they navigate supernatural forces and long-buried truths. In lush, lyrical prose, Moore crafts an elegant story that probes the depths of womanhood and motherhood, immigrant identity, and the legacies left by men who take without giving back.