It Comes in Waves

Name: It Comes in Waves
Price: 36.99 AUD
Availability: PreOrder
ISBN: 9781529954159

Rukky Brume

$36.99

Hardback

Forthcoming
Pre-Order now

QTY:

English

Merky Books
13 October 2026

Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945); Fiction: special features

A powerful debut about grief, faith and family novel from an exciting new voice

'Rich, evocative and beautifully written- a meditation on faith, grief and belonging. A wonderful debut' Nussaibah Younis

'A breathtaking debut' Foluso Agbaje

'A remarkable debut written with depth and clarity' Chibundu Onuzo

'Heartbreakingly beautiful, witty, humane and transcendent - an unforgettable debut' Lauren St John

'Suffused with love and sadness, ambitious in scope, It Comes in Waves is a delicate, moving novel' Lorna Elcock

'It Comes In Waves will leave you gasping for air, in the best ways' Maame Blue

'A story that will stay with you' Onyi Nwabineli

Grief, that ungovernable pet - it comes and goes as it pleases, never straying far.

Death sneaks up on Onome Odafe. She has little experience of what it means to lose someone she truly loves. So when her sister calls to tell her that their father didn't survive a stroke, she isn't sure how to act, what grieving is meant to look or feel like. She passes the days until she returns to Nigeria for the funeral in a haze of performance and distraction, holding together what little of herself is left.

Reunited with her siblings and mother, Onome is thrown into the depths of various funeral events, uncomfortable customs, meddling religious figures and both unfamiliar and familiar faces. One of which, is Aunty Eguono, her father's sister; a woman who has never shied away from making a scene, and whose careless words one afternoon upend the only image of her father Onome has ever known. As she struggles to accept the reality of her father's death, she finds herself on a path of discovery leading towards an unsettling truth- a man can be more than one thing, and the man in question may be her father.

An unforgettable debut, IT COMES IN WAVES is both an honest exploration of grief and a captivating story of the lives we lead and leave behind.

By: Rukky Brume
Imprint: Merky Books
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 225mm, Width: 146mm, Spine: 33mm
Weight: 470g
ISBN: 9781529954159
ISBN 10: 1529954150
Pages: 368
Publication Date: 13 October 2026
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Rukky Brume grew up in Lagos, Nigeria. She studied Law at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and works as a finance lawyer. Rukky is an alumna of the Faber Academy's flagship writing course. In 2021, her writing was longlisted for the inaugural Women's Prize Trust's Discoveries Award. IT COMES IN WAVES is her first novel. She lives in London.

Reviews for It Comes in Waves

Suffused with love and sadness, ambitious in scope, It Comes in Waves is a delicate, moving novel -- LORNA ELCOCK Brume confidently describes the pain of losing a loved one with delicate grace and humour. Onome and the Odafes will stay with me for many years to come. A breathtaking debut -- FOLUSO AGBAJE This is a meditation on those first difficult moments that grip you after someone you love has died. It's painfully true, minutely observed and disastrously human in its unfolding. It Comes In Waves will leave you gasping for air, in the best ways. -- MAAME BLUE