A Stranger in Olondria
United States

A Stranger in Olondria

by Sofia Samatar

Spirituality & Faith Fantasy Science Fiction Fiction 2013

Summary

Jevick, the son of a pepper merchant, grows up listening to stories about Olondria, a distant land where books are abundant and literacy is prized. When his father dies, Jevick takes over the family’s annual trading journey and finally visits the country he has long imagined. Enchanted by its cities, literature, and elaborate traditions, he feels he has entered a dream. But his happiness is shattered when the ghost of an illiterate young woman begins to haunt him.

Desperate to escape the apparition, Jevick seeks help from Olondria’s religious authorities, only to become entangled in a conflict between rival religious factions. To find freedom, he must uncover the dead woman’s story and confront the boundaries between the living and the dead, belief and knowledge, and personal experience and inherited tradition.

Blending lyrical prose, immersive world-building, and philosophical reflection, Sofia Samatar’s award-winning debut is both an intricate fantasy adventure and a meditation on the transformative power of literature. It explores how stories shape our understanding of other people—and how reading can become an act of wonder, possession, and liberation.

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Country
United States
North America
About the author
Sofia Samatar
Sofia Samatar

Sofia Samatar is an American novelist, poet, essayist, and educator known for her lyrical prose and imaginative explorations of culture, language, identity, and belonging. Born in 1971, she has Somali and Swiss-German Mennonite heritage, a background that informs her interest in cultural exchange, religious traditions, and the complexities of belonging to multiple worlds. Samatar studied English and African literature and earned a doctorate in African languages and literature from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Her debut novel, A Stranger in Olondria (2013), received several major fantasy awards, including the World Fantasy Award, the British Fantasy Award, and the William L. Crawford Fantasy Award. Its sequel, The Winged Histories (2016), expands the fictional world of Olondria through the perspectives of four women. Her other works include the short-story collection Tender and the memoir The White Mosque, which explores history, faith, and her family’s Mennonite connections.

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Details
Published
2013
Author
Sofia Samatar