is Irenosen Okojie’s debut novel, published in 2015 by independent publishing house, Jacaranda. The novel won the Betty Trask Award in 2016, the same year that Jacaranda published Okojie’s second book – a collection of short stories called

.

largely follows the story of a young photographer based in present day London, Joy, while she mourns the recent death of her mother. Joy develops a mental illness after her mother’s passing which is fuelled by grief, substance-reliance, and loneliness, as well as her abusive boyfriend, Rangi. Delivered in the first-person, neither Joy nor her narrative is able to distinguish between what is real and what is imagined. Joy is haunted by a ghost, Anon, who takes her briefly into the nineteenth century…

1989 words

Citation: Evans, Bethan. "Butterfly Fish". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 22 January 2021 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=38816, accessed 23 November 2024.]