The Aquatics

By Osvalde Lewat

Book Overview

An extraordinary novel of loyalty, strife, and empowerment from Peabody Award-winning Cameroonian filmmaker Osvalde Lewat.

In the fictional African country of Zambuena, Katm Abbia enjoys a life of privilege and influence married to Tashun, the powerful prefect of Zambuena's capital. Yet after years spent playing the obedient, demure wife to a husband who has ceased to notice her, Katm grows increasingly restless. Her one source of connection is Samy, a childhood friend, struggling artist, and gay man--an offense punishable by law in Zambuena. When Katm discovers that Samy's new exhibition, funded by herself and Tashun, boldly critiques Zambuena's inequities, her public, married life is set on a collision course with her one true friendship. Political rivals descend and threaten Samy with incarceration, forcing Katm into an agonizing choice: abandon her friend or destroy her family.

Mixing compassion with clear-eyed fury and a keen sense of the absurd, The Aquatics confronts one of contemporary Africa's most entrenched societal issues in a story as immersive and inevitable as a quickly rising tide.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1566897459
• ISBN13: 9781566897457
• Release Date: December 2025
• Publisher: Coffee House Press
• Length: 226 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.5" x 8.2"