There's Nothing Left for You Here [Paperback]

A luminous debut of timely, vibrant stories,There’s Nothing Left for You Hereby Allegra Solomon is the winner of the 2023 Kimbilio National Fiction Prize, an honor that celebrates excellence in contemporary fiction from writers of the African diaspora. Ranging in subject but joined by their keen attention to the lives of contemporary young women of color, these stories feature an eclectic cast of characters who are as fascinatingly complex as they are deeply relatable. In these pages, a heartbroken young woman named Salem starts over with her estranged best friend from college (Maida) and moves to LA, where she meets and becomes entangled with Theo, Maida’s mysterious wealthy benefactor; teens Nikita and Alexandria bind together to navigate the adolescent politics of high school and female friendship as the only two Black girls at their school;  and Ciara, a bookstore employee, agrees to house-sit for a white coworker named Angelina she hardly knows, only for Angelina to disappear with no notice and leave Ciara looking after her apartment and dog. In the words of Kimbilio Prize judge Deesha Philyaw, readers should prepare to find “these fresh, moody, unconventional stories…irresistible.”
 Allegra Solomon has written an impressive debut collection of short stories that offers readers a glimpse at a stellar writing career to come. These 8 stories showcase not only Solomon’s gift of the fresh and the new, but also allow us into the lives of enduring characters and their relationships. Romantic love. An anxious voyeur. The art of friendship. Black and brown girls protecting and thriving. Throughout, Solomon impresses us with her storytelling while unpacking the lives of a multicultural cast of characters who refuse conventional expectations of race or class. These characters are contemporary in the best way and get ready for them to take up space in your head and heart. The writing and the characters both have sló4