A finalist for the 2022 World Fantasy Award for Best Novel
One of BookPage’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Books of 2021
One of Tor.com Reviewers’ Choice Best Books of 2021
One of Book Riot’s Best SFF Standalones of 2021
“Ghosts. Gods. Gangsters. Black Water Sister has it all… a wildly entertaining coming-of-age story for the twentysomething set, with a protagonist who is almost painfully relatable at times.”
— Vulture
“A twisty, feminist, and enthralling page-turner.”
— BuzzFeed
“A sharp and bittersweet story of past and future, ghosts and gods and family.”
— Naomi Novik, New York Times bestselling author of A Deadly Education
Description
A reluctant medium discovers that the ties that bind can unleash a dangerous power in this compelling Malaysian-set contemporary fantasy.
When Jessamyn Teoh starts hearing a voice in her head, she assumes it’s just stress. Closeted, broke, and jobless, she’s moving back to Malaysia with her parents — a country she hasn’t seen since she was a toddler.
But the voice isn’t hers at all. It belongs to the ghost of her estranged grandmother, Ah Ma. In life, Ah Ma was a spirit medium, the avatar of a mysterious deity called the Black Water Sister. Now she’s determined to settle a score against a business magnate who offended the god — and she’s decided Jess is going to help her do it, whether Jess wants to or not.
Drawn into a world of gods, ghosts, and buried family secrets, Jess discovers that making deals with capricious spirits is dangerous — but dealing with her grandmother might be worse.
As Ah Ma meddles in her personal life, threatens to expose her secrets, and even uses her body to commit crimes, Jess must fight not just for vengeance, but for control of her own destiny — before the Black Water Sister finishes her off for good.