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Somewhere Soft to Land

A Novel

Author kai alonté

Hardcover

$30.00 US

Ballantine Group | Ballantine Books

6-1/8"W x 9-1/4"H (15.6 x 23.5 cm) | 20 oz (575 g) | 12 per carton

On sale Apr 21, 2026 | 368 Pages | 9780593726792

Grades 9-12 + AP/IB

Sales rights: US, Canada, Open Mkt

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Fiction > Women's Fiction

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In this crackling portrayal of friendship in peril, a young woman's world is upended when a tragedy in her best friend's life tests the boundaries of their sisterhood—a sharp and compelling debut novel from a Ghanaian-American writer.

Dzifa has always felt a bit off. Maybe it's the family baggage, or maybe it's just how she's wired. Depleted by cycles of burnout, she lives her life in a perpetual state of bracing: for another lost job, another lost home, another piece of evidence she isn’t doing being right. If it weren't for the encouragement—and occasional overstepping—of her magnetic best friend, Tatiana, Dzifa doesn't know if she'd have made it as far as she has. Despite their differences, the two women share a desire to be their authentic selves, and to shed the grip of the respectability politics they've been taught should govern their lives.

Just as each begins to find her way, the sudden passing of Tatiana's child upends everything. Dzifa rushes to Tatiana's hometown to help her friend prepare for the funeral. But when she arrives, Dzifa is immersed in an unsettling conflict between two diametrically opposed families, one of whom seems intent on seeding doubt about Tatiana's capacity as a mother. When Tatiana asks her for the ultimate favor, Dzifa must choose between loyalty at the expense of her own well-being and authenticity at the expense of her most valued friendship.

A riveting exploration of sisterhood, what it means to mother and be mothered, and what it means to be well, Somewhere Soft to Land reckons with the sometimes funny, sometimes fraught, friendship between women with divergent ideologies, aspirations, personalities, and paths.

kai alonté is a Ghanaian-American artist based in Northern Europe. Her short story ‘3-Step Face Mask’ was published in the Sycamore Review in 2021 and won 1st Prize for Nonfiction in the 2020 West Virginia Writers Contest. In 2024, her essay ‘Embracing Life’s Layers through Collage’ was published in Onko Maailma Valmis?, a collection organized by Kulttuuria kaikille (Culture for All). She graduated from Trinity College Dublin’s Creative Writing M.Phil program and has been an artist-in-residence at Gullkistan, NES, Arteles, and Hub Feenix. View titles by kai alonté

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About

Author

Rights

Available for sale exclusive:

• Canada

• Guam

• Minor Outl.Ins.

• North Mariana

• Philippines

• Puerto Rico

• Samoa,American

• US Virgin Is.

• USA

Available for sale non-exclusive:

• Afghanistan

• Aland Islands

• Albania

• Algeria

• Andorra

• Angola

• Anguilla

• Antarctica

• Argentina

• Armenia

• Aruba

• Austria

• Azerbaijan

• Bahrain

• Belarus

• Belgium

• Benin

• Bolivia

• Bonaire, Saba

• Bosnia Herzeg.

• Bouvet Island

• Brazil

• Bulgaria

• Burkina Faso

• Burundi

• Cambodia

• Cape Verde

• Centr.Afr.Rep.

• Chad

• Chile

• China

• Colombia

• Comoro Is.

• Congo

• Cook Islands

• Costa Rica

• Croatia

• Cuba

• Curacao

• Czech Republic

• Dem. Rep. Congo

• Denmark

• Djibouti

• Dominican Rep.

• Ecuador

• Egypt

• El Salvador

• Equatorial Gui.

• Eritrea

• Estonia

• Ethiopia

• Faroe Islands

• Finland

• France

• Fren.Polynesia

• French Guinea

• Gabon

• Georgia

• Germany

• Greece

• Greenland

• Guadeloupe

• Guatemala

• Guinea Republic

• Guinea-Bissau

• Haiti

• Heard/McDon.Isl

• Honduras

• Hong Kong

• Hungary

• Iceland

• Indonesia

• Iran

• Iraq

• Israel

• Italy

• Ivory Coast

• Japan

• Jordan

• Kazakhstan

• Kuwait

• Kyrgyzstan

• Laos

• Latvia

• Lebanon

• Liberia

• Libya

• Liechtenstein

• Lithuania

• Luxembourg

• Macau

• Macedonia

• Madagascar

• Mali

• Marshall island

• Martinique

• Mauritania

• Mayotte

• Mexico

• Micronesia

• Moldavia

• Monaco

• Mongolia

• Montenegro

• Morocco

• Myanmar

• Nepal

• Netherlands

• New Caledonia

• Nicaragua

• Niger

• Niue

• Norfolk Island

• North Korea

• Norway

• Oman

• Palau

• Palestinian Ter

• Panama

• Paraguay

• Peru

• Poland

• Portugal

• Qatar

• Reunion Island

• Romania

• Russian Fed.

• Rwanda

• Saint Martin

• San Marino

• SaoTome Princip

• Saudi Arabia

• Senegal

• Serbia

• Singapore

• Sint Maarten

• Slovakia

• Slovenia

• South Korea

• South Sudan

• Spain

• St Barthelemy

• St.Pier,Miquel.

• Sth Terr. Franc

• Sudan

• Suriname

• Svalbard

• Sweden

• Switzerland

• Syria

• Tadschikistan

• Taiwan

• Thailand

• Timor-Leste

• Togo

• Tokelau Islands

• Tunisia

• Turkey

• Turkmenistan

• Ukraine

• Unit.Arab Emir.

• Uruguay

• Uzbekistan

• Vatican City

• Venezuela

• Vietnam

• Wallis,Futuna

• West Saharan

• Western Samoa

• Yemen

Not available for sale:

• Antigua/Barbuda

• Australia

• Bahamas

• Bangladesh

• Barbados

• Belize

• Bermuda

• Bhutan

• Botswana

• Brit.Ind.Oc.Ter

• Brit.Virgin Is.

• Brunei

• Cameroon

• Cayman Islands

• Christmas Islnd

• Cocos Islands

• Cyprus

• Dominica

• Falkland Islnds

• Fiji

• Gambia

• Ghana

• Gibraltar

• Grenada

• Guernsey

• Guyana

• India

• Ireland

• Isle of Man

• Jamaica

• Jersey

• Kenya

• Kiribati

• Lesotho

• Malawi

• Malaysia

• Maldives

• Malta

• Mauritius

• Montserrat

• Mozambique

• Namibia

• Nauru

• New Zealand

• Nigeria

• Pakistan

• PapuaNewGuinea

• Pitcairn Islnds

• S. Sandwich Ins

• Seychelles

• Sierra Leone

• Solomon Islands

• Somalia

• South Africa

• Sri Lanka

• St. Helena

• St. Lucia

• St. Vincent

• St.Chr.,Nevis

• Swaziland

• Tanzania

• Tonga

• Trinidad,Tobago

• Turks&Caicos Is

• Tuvalu

• Uganda

• United Kingdom

• Vanuatu

• Zambia

• Zimbabwe

Check out our New Spring 2026 Fiction for Higher Education picks, perfect for your syllabus, classroom, and library.

Adult Education

January 22 2026

New Spring 2026 Fiction for Higher Education

Check out our New Spring 2026 Fiction for Higher Education picks, perfect for your syllabus, classroom, and library. These selections are intended to foster meaningful discussions among your readers. For more literary fiction titles, click here.

New Spring 2026 Fiction for Higher Education

Adult Education

January 22 2026

Somewhere Soft to Land

A Novel

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New Spring 2026 Fiction for Higher Education

New Spring 2026 Fiction for Higher Education

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