You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty

Feyi Adekola has spent five years since her husband's sudden death unable to connect with anyone romantically, channeling her grief into visceral, blood-and-bone visual art instead. When a rooftop encounter turns into something more, she lets herself hope again — a hope that carries her into a summer of luxury island getaways, a celebrity chef's decadent world, and the attention of a major art curator who could launch her career.

She starts seeing Nasir, who is kind and attentive and, on paper, exactly what she needs. But when she meets his father Alim — the celebrated chef behind it all — the spark she couldn't summon for Nasir ignites instantly and dangerously for the one person who is completely off-limits. You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty is Akwaeke Emezi's first romance: a story about grief, desire, and the risk of letting yourself want again when the timing and the person are both entirely wrong.