A Country You Can Leave, Asale AngelAjani
A Country You Can Leave, Asale AngelAjani
List: $26.99 | Sale: $18.89
Club: $13.49

A Country You Can Leave
A Novel

Author: Asale Angel-Ajani

Narrator: Amanda Cordner

Unabridged: 9 hr 12 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 02/21/2023

Synopsis

"From page one, A Country You Can Leave is a riveting, exasperating, and deeply heartbreaking tale of mother-daughter strife and resilience." —Xochitl Gonzalez, author of Olga Dies Dreaming

A stunning debut novel following the turbulent relationship of a Black, biracial teen and her ferocious Russian mother, struggling to survive in the California desert.

When sixteen-year-old Lara and her fiery mother, Yevgenia, find themselves homeless again, the misnamed Oasis Mobile Estates is all they can afford. In this new community, where residents are down on their luck but rich in humor and escape plans, Lara navigates what it means to be the Black, biracial daughter of a Russian mother and begins to wonder what a life beyond Yevgenia’s orbit—insistence on reading only the right kind of books (Russian), having the right kind of relationships (casual, with lots of sex)—might look like.

Lara knows that something else lies beneath her mother’s fierce, independent spirit, but Yevgenia doesn't believe in sharing, least of all with her daughter. When a brutal attack exposes the cracks in their relationship, Lara and Yevgenia are forced to confront the family legacy of violence and the strain of inherited trauma on the bonds of their love.

A Country You Can Leave is a dazzling, sharp-witted story, suffused with yearning, as Lara and Yevgenia attempt to forge their own identities and thrive in a hostile land. Compelling and empathetic, wry and intimate, Asale Angel-Ajani's unforgettable debut novel examines the beauty and dangers of womanhood in multiracial America.

A Macmillan Audio production from Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

About Asale Angel-Ajani

Asale Angel-Ajani is a writer and Professor at The City College of New York. She’s the author of the nonfiction books Strange Trade: The Story of Two Women Who Risked Everything in the International Drug Trade and Intimate: Essays on Racial Terror. She has held residencies at Millay, Djerassi, and Playa, and is an alum of VONA and Tin House. A Country You Can Leave is her first novel.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Laura on March 30, 2023

I am torn about how to rate A Country You Can Leave. The first half felt like Groundhog Day in a run down trailer park. Definitely three stars. But a few pages later the story sprang to life, with bold new story arcs, tensions rising, ultimately leading to a satisfying ending. Recommend. 3 1/2*......more

Goodreads review by Marilyn (not getting notifications) on March 02, 2023

A Country You Can Leave was Asale Angel-Ajani’s debut novel. It was a well written, coming of age novel with unforgettable characters. I listened to the audiobook that was very well narrated by Amanda Cordner. It was about a mother/daughter relationship but so much more. It was told from the POV of......more

Goodreads review by Bandit on October 29, 2022

Why am I the first to rate and review this? Can my praises change that? Let’s find out. A family can be very much like a country. For one thing, it can be difficult to leave. But also…best case scenario, it can provide a sense of belonging and pride, somewhere to be safe, loved, taken care of. At wor......more

Goodreads review by Stitching on February 14, 2024

This is listed as a coming of age story but I found it to be mostly an exploration of the relationship between the mother and the child and of life as a neglected child. I liked that Angel-Ajani resisted the tendency to over-dramatize the feelings associated with neglect that too often make such nar......more

Goodreads review by switterbug (Betsey) on May 07, 2023

A mother-daughter relationship is explored in this disturbing story of hardship, poverty, longing, and intergenerational trauma. Yevgenia (Evie) is a white Russian immigrant and fiery alcoholic who came to the US by accident. Her sixteen-year-old daughter, Lara, is a Cuban, Black biracial teen who w......more

Quotes

"[A] piercing debut novel . . . In perceptive prose and wry dialogue, Angel-Ajani brings to life a mother and daughter trapped by their circumstances. This is exemplary."
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"A tour de force of character, and a captivating story to match. Vivid, tender and unflinching, I loved this journey. "
—Ann-Marie MacDonald, author of Fayne

“A Country You Can Leave is an enthralling and heartfelt novel. In this striking debut, Asale Angel-Ajani’s phenomenal skills shine on every page. This book will leave you profoundly moved and feeling like you better understand the word loneliness.”
—Sarah Jackson, author of A Bit Much

“A Country You Can Leave shattered me with its pain and sweetness. At its heart are a mother and daughter like none I’ve read before, each striving for selfhood in a world that seems bent on crushing them. It’s rare to encounter a debut so fearless and insightful and truly new, but here is Asale Angel-Ajani to show us what’s possible in the landscape of American fiction.”
—Tania James, author of The Tusk That Did the Damage

"A journey through the California everyone should know, a place America needs to see, a world of desperation and beauty, collaboration and redemption. In the best tradition of fiercely perceptive daughters fighting to survive dangerous lives, from Betty Smith to Janet Fitch to Helena Maria Viramontes, the debut of Asale Angel-Ajani was ever surprising, a novel I read in one day."
—Susan Straight, author of Mecca

"From page one, A Country You Can Leave is a riveting, exasperating, and deeply heartbreaking tale of mother-daughter strife and resilience. Asale Angel-Ajani is an explosive talent and her story of Afro-Cuban Lara coming of age in a ruthless headlock with her survivalist Russian mother, Yevgenia, will disintegrate your strong-held emotional walls, down to her very last act of resistance."
—Xochitl Gonzalez, author of Olga Dies Dreaming

"Refined and raw, cosmopolitan and claustrophobic, A Country You Can Leave is a novel of contrasts, built around a mother and daughter who see themselves as nothing alike. Asale Angel-Ajani portrays the complexity of the whole world through this one core relationship. Her debut is as loving as it is demanding, as vulnerable as it is merciless, and its complications will break your heart."
—Julia Phillips , author of Disappearing Earth

Add to Cart
Add to Wish List