The House of Rust (2021)

Aisha leaves Mombasa in a boat made of bones to search for her fisherman father, with a talking scholar's cat for company. Bajaber gives this sea adventure a richly particular coastal world through Hadhrami and Swahili culture, family expectations and sharply imagined creatures. The pleasure is in Aisha's growing judgement as much as the unusual images she encounters. This adult fabulist novel keeps developing her life beyond the voyage.