
Popisho is a masterful delight: a playful love story, a portrait of community, a boldly sensual meditation on desire and addiction, and a critique of the legacies of corruption and colonialism. Before it comes, before the end of the day, this wildly imaginative narrative will take us across the islands, their history, and into the lives of unforgettable characters. And graffiti messages from an unknown source are asking hard questions. The governor’s daughter, Sonteine, is getting married, her father demanding a feast out of turn. Anise, his long lost love, is on a march toward reckoning with her healing powers. Xavier Redchoose is the macaenus of his generation, anointed by the gods to make each resident one perfect meal when the time is right.

A place of stunning beauty and incorrigible mischief, destiny and mystery, it is also a place in need of change. Somewhere far away-or maybe right nearby-lies an archipelago called Popisho. From the gods: a thing that felt so inexpressibly your own. Leone Ross is a marvel of a writer, and this book absolutely bespelled me.” -Amber Sparks, author of And I Do Not Forgive YouĮveryone in Popisho was born. “I feel like I have been waiting my whole life to read a novel this expansive, this generous, this full of magic and massive personality. The fierceness of this novel in its imagery, in its ideas about women, the way it spoke to so many concerns of now, drew me in, but the caramel of the relationships, the way Leone Ross writes about intimacy, kept me enthralled.” -Megan Giddings, author of Lakewood Hands that can heal, palms that glow silver, body parts that abruptly fall off even though their owners keep living abound here. “ Popisho mixes lush, descriptive prose with the unrepentant wildness of folktales.


We’ve fallen in love with the masterful novel, and we’re not the only ones. To enter the world of Popisho is to enter a world where magic is everywhere, food is fate, politics are broken, and love awaits. It’s a lush and sensual cover-illustrated by Hayley Wall and designed by Alex Merto-for an equally lush and sensual novel. FSG is thrilled to share the stunning cover of Leone Ross’s new novel, Popisho, which we will publish in April 2021.
