Book Review: Fascinating book that explores the world of romantic fiction

But Akwaeke Emezi introduces us to Feyi as she’s becoming ready to move into the next phase of her life - still grieving, still missing her husband desperately but, to put it frankly, ready to start having some sex.

You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty celebrates the reawakening of desire following terrible and all-consuming grief.

The tone is overwhelmingly uplifting, and Emezi treads a fascinating line between observing many of the tropes of a traditional romance novel with exploring new and exciting ground.

What is particularly wonderful about this book is the exploration not just of Feyi the lover and partner, but Feyi the artist.

Her art has seen her through the rawness and pain of the last five years, providing a powerful outlet for her grief. And now, as she moves into the next phase, it is still at the centre of her life.

One of the most powerful sections in the whole book is where Feyi and Pooja Chatterjee, a client who’s commissioned a large artwork from Feyi and who is herself grieving the loss of her daughter, rip up pieces of fabric and scream together in preparation for Feyi to use the textiles in her work.

Their shared expression of grief is extraordinarily moving, a real knock you sideways scene.

As a romance novel, You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty is genuinely unpredictable. It isn’t clear until the final third of the book who Feyi is going to end up with, if anyone.

Emezi plays with our expectations and plays with the genre. Halfway through the story, Helen Oyeyemi book in hand, Feyi steps into a world of fantasy and possibility, a world where transgressions are allowed. What if we took that impossible step? What would really happen?

This is a fascinating book that explores new ground in the world of romantic fiction while also having all the escapist fun the genre allows.