Set in the universe Africanfuturist luminary Nnedi Okorafor first introduced in the World Fantasy Award-winning Who Fears Death, One Way Witch is the second in the She Who Knows trilogy
The world has forgotten Onyesonwu.
As a teen, Najeeba learned to become the beast of wind, fire and dust: the kponyungo. When that took too much from her, including the life of her father, she let it all go, and for a time, she was happy — until only a few years later, when the small, normal life she’d built was violently destroyed.
Now in her forties and years beyond the death of her second husband, Najeeba has just lost her beloved daughter. Onyesonwu saved the world. Najeeba knows this well, but the world does not. This is how the juju her daughter evoked works. One other person who remembers is Onyesonwu’s teacher Aro, a harsh and hard-headed sorcerer. Najeeba has decided to ask him to teach her the Mystic Points, the powerful heart of sorcery. There is something awful Najeeba needs to kill and the Mystic Points are the only way. Najeeba is truly her daughter’s mother.
When Aro agrees to help, Najeeba is at last ready to forge her future. But first, she must confront her past — for certain memories cannot lie in unmarked graves.
The world has forgotten Onyesonwu.
As a teen, Najeeba learned to become the beast of wind, fire and dust: the kponyungo. When that took too much from her, including the life of her father, she let it all go, and for a time, she was happy — until only a few years later, when the small, normal life she’d built was violently destroyed.
Now in her forties and years beyond the death of her second husband, Najeeba has just lost her beloved daughter. Onyesonwu saved the world. Najeeba knows this well, but the world does not. This is how the juju her daughter evoked works. One other person who remembers is Onyesonwu’s teacher Aro, a harsh and hard-headed sorcerer. Najeeba has decided to ask him to teach her the Mystic Points, the powerful heart of sorcery. There is something awful Najeeba needs to kill and the Mystic Points are the only way. Najeeba is truly her daughter’s mother.
When Aro agrees to help, Najeeba is at last ready to forge her future. But first, she must confront her past — for certain memories cannot lie in unmarked graves.
Book Details
Format:
Hardcover
Price:
31 CAD / 23 USD
Published: 2025-04-29
ISBN: 9780756418977
Imprint:
DAW Books
Page Count: 240
Trim Size: 5 x 7
Praise for the She Who Knows trilogy
"Okorafor packs a punch in her She Who Knows series launch, a return to the realm of the World Fantasy Award–winning Who Fears Death . . . Fans of Who Fears Death will appreciate the return to this rich, fully realized world, but Okorafor keeps things accessible enough that this works just as well on its own. Readers will devour this."
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"As always with Okorafor’s work, the prose is sharp and immersive, the characters provide insight into family drama and healing, and the narrative seamlessly blends elements of fantasy, folklore, and speculative fiction . . . While this book may be short, its impact is anything but small."
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"A new work from Africanfuturist Okorafor is always an event for speculative-fiction fans."
—Ashley Rayner, Booklist
"She Who Knows is a surprisingly intimate novel . . . [A] tale of courage and defiance, and one that is eminently readable even to those unfamiliar with Who Fears Death."
—Gary K. Wolfe, Locus
Praise for Nnedi Okorafor
"An epic collision of new tech and elemental magic—suspensful, immersive, and chillingly relevant. Another stunning feat of imagination from Nnedi Okorafor."
—Leigh Bardugo, #1 New York Times-bestselling author of Ninth House
"Nnedi Okorafor writes glorious futures and fabulous fantasies. Her worlds open your mind to new things, always rooted in the red clay of reality.”
—Neil Gaiman, New York Times-bestselling author of American Gods
"Haunting and absolutely brilliant. My heart and guts are all turned inside out."
—John Green, New York Times-bestselling author of The Fault in Our Stars
“Shadow Speaker is wonderful, highly original stuff, episode after amazing episode, full of color, life and death… Nnedi also deals head-on with the fact that power and pain are closely linked, as are magic and blood. I think this book is marvelous.”
—Diana Wynne Jones, author of Howl’s Moving Castle
“There’s more vivid imagination in a page of Nnedi Okorafor’s work than in whole volumes of ordinary fantasy epics.”
—Ursula K. Le Guin, author of The Left Hand of Darkness
“Shadow Speaker is endlessly imaginative, full of mystery and delight on every page. Nnedi Okorafor is a voice that will delight readers of all ages and backgrounds.”
—Tananarive Due, American Book Award-winning author of The Reformatory
"Like Thunder is an excellent demonstration of [Okorafor's] gifts as a novelist: it is inventive, fast-paced, and deeply concerned with difficult journeys to self-discovery, as well as the transformative costs of such adventures."
—Los Angeles Review of Books
