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MBITIOUS and absorbing, Yaa Gyasi’s Homegoing stands out, even among a recent crop of outstanding fiction by young African writers. The book spans seven generations and 300 years, and has been compared to Alex Haley’s Roots and Toni Morrison’s Beloved. It is, as Ta-Nehisi Coates says, “a monster” — especially for a debut. Roxane Gay calls it “the strongest case for reparations and black rage I’ve read in a long time”.

Gyasi, who was born in Ghana, made headlines last year when she was offered a seven-figure advance for the manuscript of Homegoing. “It’s been overwhelming but wonderful,” she says of the acclaim. “I’ve wanted to be a writer since I was a child, so the warm reception that Homegoing has got has made me so grateful that I’ve been able to fulfil that dream.”

Gyasi has lived in the US since she was two, but Homegoing is charged with the mythology and customs of her home country. “My parents always made sure to foster community with other Ghanaian immigrants wherever we lived,” she says, “so I always had this extended family of elders who shared the stories, food and language.”

The geographical distance,