Break This House

The author of National Book Award finalist Everybody Looking presents a poignant novel about a teenager reckoning with her family’s—and her home town’s—secrets.

“A tender, poetic story about what it’s like to experience loss and learn to continue living anyway.”—Bookpage

“Iloh’s meditation on grief, individuals’ capacity for change, and perseverance of family [is] a thought-provoking read.”—Publishers Weekly

Yaminah Okar left Obsidian and the wreckage of her family years ago. She and her father have made lives for themselves in Brooklyn. She thinks she’s moved on to bigger and better things. She thinks she’s finally left behind that city she would rather forget. But when a Facebook message about her estranged mother pierces Yaminah’s new bubble, memories of everything that happened before her parents’ divorce come roaring back. Now Yaminah must finally reckon with the truth about her mother and the looming collapse of a place she once called home.