Zephyr snaps up two 'stunning' YA standalones by Musariri 

Zephyr, the children’s imprint of Head of Zeus, has snapped up two "stunning" YA standalones by Zimbabwean author, Blessing Musariri.

Editor Lauren Atherton acquired UK and commonwealth rights in All That It Ever Meant and a second book, When It’s Your Turn For Midnight, from Julia Churchill at A M Heath Literary Agency on behalf of Sarah Odedina at Accord Literary.

All That It Ever Meant, which will publish in hardback in November 2023, with cover artwork by Godwin Akpan, is described as an "outstanding YA novel of family love, loss and life lived between two cultures", and was first published in the US by Norton Young Readers.

The synopsis says: "When Mati and her two siblings travel from London to Zimbabwe with their father, they are forced to confront the knotty family dynamics caused by the loss of their mother. Along for the trip is Meticais, a fabulously attired gender-neutral spirit – or ghost? or imaginary friend? – who only Mati can see and talk to.

"Guided by Meticais’s enigmatic advice and wisdom, Mati must come to terms with her grief and with the difficulty of a life lived between two cultures, while her family learn to forge their way in a world without their monumental mother."

Atherton said: "Blessing Musariri is a unique talent, a writer of immense power, with an assured and distinctive voice that makes you stop and appreciate every single word. Blessing conjures characters who leap off the page and linger long in the memory, who challenge, provoke, make you laugh and cry."

Musariri is an award-winning author of short stories, children’s stories, radio and screenplays and contemporary adult fiction. Her work has also been published by the Guardian, Granta, and Poetry International.

She, added: "Stories of home and family are of particular interest to me as they are relevant to all of us in the most fundamental way. As much as we are bound to each other we are limitless in our capacity to create and recreate versions of ourselves. I am more than pleased to have found in Zephyr a home that sees the heart in these versions of my creative self."

Churchill commented: "All That It Ever Meant is such a surprising and unexpected novel about love, loss and the family team. Blessing is a real talent – original, artful and powerful."