Abeni’s life changed on the day of the Harvest Festival. Warriors with burning blades attacked her village. A man with a cursed flute played a song that no one could resist. Everyone she had ever known was captured and marched toward ghost ships bound for distant lands.
The old woman who lived at the edge of the forest saved Abeni. She had warned the village, but no one listened. Now she took Abeni as her apprentice, whether Abeni wanted it or not. The magic training was hard and strange, and Abeni’s real goal was never to become a witch. She wanted to find her people and bring them home.
P. Djeli Clark drew on West African and African diaspora traditions to build Abeni’s world. The story carries echoes of the transatlantic slave trade, filtered through a fantasy lens that makes it accessible to middle-grade readers. Abeni is stubborn, brave, and angry about what happened to her village, and those feelings drive her forward through both books.
Abeni and the Kingdom of Gold (2025) continues her quest, expanding the world and the dangers Abeni faces. A third book is anticipated.
Reading Order
See the complete Abeni’s Song reading order for all books in the series.