When Makeda and her twin sister Abby are born, they come into the world conjoined and sickly. The surgery to separate them weakens Abby so much that she will surely die-unless her parents make a bargain with the gods. For Makeda and Abby are not ordinary children, they are the offspring of Boysie, god of growing things, and his wife, a beautiful human woman. In exchange for Abby's life, Boysie agrees to live as a human, and his wife must spend her days as a monstrous sea creature.
Twenty years later...
Physically healthy but with no magical ability, Makeda has spent her whole life in the shadow of her sister Abby, who has twisted legs but an enchanted singing voice. By their magical relatives' standards, Makeda is just a "donkey"-a worthless human valuable only for her role in helping Abby survive. Tired of feeling second best, Makeda decides to move out on her own.
Makeda discovers that her new apartment building is also home to a talented rock band, and the band's leader, Brie, is a very cute boy with a distinct aura of magic about him. When Makeda's father goes missing, she must decide if she can trust Brie, or not...and her life may depend on the answer.

Nalo Hopkinson--winner of the John W. Campbell Award, the Sunburst Award, and the World Fantasy award (among others), and lauded as one of our "most inventive and brilliant writers" (New York Post)--returns with a new work exploring the relationship between two sisters in this richly textured and deeply moving novel.

We'd had to be cut free of our mother's womb. She'd never have been able to push the two-headed sport that was me and Abby out the usual way. Abby and I were fused, you see. Conjoined twins. Abby's head, torso, and left arm protruded from my chest. But here's the real kicker; Abby had the magic, I didn't. Far as the Family was concerned, Abby was one of them, though cursed, as I was, with the tragic flaw of mortality.

Now adults, Makeda and Abby still share their childhood home. The surgery to separate the two girls gave Abby a permanent limp, but left Makeda with what feels like an even worse deformity: no mojo. The daughters of a celestial demigod and a human woman, Makeda and Abby were raised by their magical father, the god of growing things--a highly unusual childhood that made them extremely close. Ever since Abby's magical talent began to develop, though, in the form of an unearthly singing voice, the sisters have become increasingly distant.

Today, Makeda has decided it's high time to move out and make her own life among the other nonmagical, claypicken humans--after all, she's one of them. In Cheerful Rest, a run-down warehouse space, Makeda finds exactly what she's been looking for: an opportunity to live apart from Abby and begin building her own independent life. There's even a resident band, led by the charismatic (and attractive) building superintendent.

But when her father goes missing, Makeda will have to discover her own talent--and reconcile with Abby--if she's to have a hope of saving him . . .