A couple of months ago I spotted that I had two books on my TBR with the same title. Rosewater by Liv Little and Rosewater by Tade Thompson are very different novels but I thought it might be interesting to read them back to back.

In one book Rosewater is a poem, in the other it’s the name of a town, but both refer obliquely to the scented product. The poem is an ode to a person who wears that particular scent. The town is in its early days especially smelly, so the name is ironic.

Little’s book follows Elsie, a 28-year-old poet in London struggling with debt in the gig economy. In short succession she loses her home and almost loses her job thanks to a racist customer. To keep a roof over her head she must go crawling to her best friend Juliet, but there is beef in their recent past they haven’t dealt with.

Little does a great job of demonstrating how an unstable childhood and early-life money problems compound poverty later on. Elsie has no cushion and no-one she can confidently rely on. It’s all completely relatable while also being specific to her experience of being queer, Black and striving to work in the arts. It’s sweet and funny and very much based in reality.

“ ‘Just because it’s not deep to you doesn’t mean it’s not deep to me. But there’s no point in talking anymore. We’ve said what needs to be said.’ There’s a (small) quiet part of my brain that is telling me to calm down but in the rest of my brain my emotions are too large and loud and overtaking my ability to articulate anything other than anger and avoidance.” – Liv Little

Unlike Thompson’s novel, which is sci-fi set in a future Nigeria decades after aliens have landed on Earth and changed the world significantly. Our hero and narrator is Kaaro, one of a handful of “sensitives” – people who have gained psychic powers since the aliens arrived. Like Elsie he works multiple jobs, neither of which he particularly likes, and he often faces aggression. But in his case that’s often because he’s a misogynistic ass.

This book has some big concepts (which makes sense as it’s setting up a trilogy). The aliens separate themselves from humans in a giant biodome, which opens once a year, attracting millions of tourists from all over the world. The psychic powers work in a shared mindspace that feels a little like scenes from Neuromancer. There are political factions vying for power and how they deal with sensitives and aliens is a major dividing line. There are also complex geopolitics, with the US having cut itself off from the rest of the world, while the UK’s economy has tanked and Nigeria has risen in the world.

But again, there are also elements of this book that are specific to the person it focuses on. Thompson references Nigerian folklore and languages, as well as Christianity and Islam. The food is always spicy and the music is always rap. Both narrators are smart in both intelligence and wit.

“There are, by my estimate, thousands of people…They sing and pray to facilitate the Opening…Some hold a rapt, religious awe on their faces and cannot bring themselves to talk, while others shout in a continuous, sustained manner. An imam has suspended himself from a roof in a harness that looks homemade, and is preaching through a bullhorn. His words are lost in the din, which swallows meaning and nuance and shits out a homogenous roar. Fights break out but are quashed in seconds because nobody knows if you have to be ‘good’ to deserve the blessings from the biodome.” – Tade Thompson

While Elsie’s story is linear – though it does gradually fill in background detail – Kaaro’s story jumps around in time. The “current day” is 2066 but alternating chapters skips between dates in the 2030s, 2040s and 2050s. Some chapters are standalone events while others are full B and C storylines, effectively, just also with Kaaro at their centre. Honestly I found this a little hard to follow, though I understand why it’s written that way, as there are some big reveals in Kaaro’s past that are gradually worked up to.

I would say that Little’s book was the more enjoyable read and I don’t know if that’s partly due to my higher familiarity with the genre and the setting. But I’m glad I read both.

Rosewater by Liv Little published 2023 by Dialogue Books.

Rosewater by Tade Thompson published 2016 by Apex Publications.