Tearless: A Novel:

by Ayo Deforge

Overview

TEARLESS is a deeply compelling portrait of twenty-four-year-old Lami's self-discovery and emotional coming-of-age. It is also a passionate and unflinching tale of interracial love.

It weaves together two narrative threads that tend to themes of love, loss, fatherlessness and identity with grace and confidence.

TEARLESS follows the journey of Lami Davies who struggles to reunite her separated siblings and rise above her trauma.

Lami is obsessed with finding her little sister whom she lost touch with at the age of twelve after her mother's passing. Her abusive father, in a heart-wrenching act, separated the children, placing them in the care of different relatives. The youngest, Tutu, was sent to live with a distant aunt in England. In her quest to reunite her family, we see how Lami's childhood experiences influence her interactions as an adult. Her story will offer hope to all readers who are battling to let go of past trauma in order to prevent it from spilling into the present and the future.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9782959075537
Publisher:	Ayo Deforge
Publication date:	11/30/2023
Pages:	310
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Ayo Deforge is a Nigerian writer who resides in the South of France.
An alumna of the Chimamanda Adichie's inaugural creative writing workshop (2007) and the Faber Academy’s writing course (2022), she has worked as a freelance poet for the Nigerian Daily Independent Newspaper and NGEX.com, and her writing has appeared in Litro Magazine, Brittle Paper, Ayo Magazine, Kalahari Review and Lucy Writers Platform (an online writing forum established by Lucy Cavendish College, University of Cambridge). She was a reader for the Inaugural Oxbelly Writers Retreat and she teaches Read Like A Writer classes to budding writers like herself.
TEARLESS is her debut novel.

Editorial Reviews

With Tearless, Ayo proves she has a full grasp of human experiences. She weaves this story with beautiful and smooth language.

Author of We Will Live Again - Chukwuemeka Famous

Tearless is graceful, colourful and memorable. It effortlessly brings to life Lami's person: her fear, laughter, joy and love. In Tearless, characters sneak up on you, so by the time you're done reading, it's more than just a book or characters. It becomes personal and you begin to think about the people you met in the book.

Writer and Editor - Deborah Oluniran Adeniyi

Ayo Deforge takes the reader on an emotionally-charged journey in Tearless. The story does not only drag you in and hold you captive until the last full-stop, but it also asks questions of your feelings, your compassion, your humanity, such that long after you're done reading, you're still carrying the main character in your heart and wondering about her.

Winner, Quramo Writers Prize 2022 - Ibrahim Babátúndé Ibrahim

Ayo Deforge does an exceptional job in exploring the theme of grief, offering a powerful and nuanced portrayal of its ability to fracture a family. Tearless evokes a profound yearning to repair shattered connections, leaving readers deeply moved.

Author of A Conspiracy of Ravens - Othuke Ominiabohs

The characters in Ayo Deforge's rich episodic novel bring to life a melting pot of metropolitan cultures, as their story travels between Lagos and Paris, past and present, young and old, traditional and trendy. The author's fresh and lively take on the human condition invites us to plunge into a world that will be new to many, yet Tearless transcends its unique mise en scene to remind us of the universal joys of friendship, the importance of family, and the redemptive power of love.

Author of Coming Home to Story: Storytelling Beyond Happily Ever After - Geoff Mead