The Tiny Things Are Heavier: 'A beautiful story of what we owe to our families, friends, lovers, and ourselves' Kiley Reid

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VOGUE MAGAZINE, BEST BOOKS OF 2025
A HARPER'S BAZAAR BEST 2025 BEACH READ PICK

'A gracefully told and sharply observed debut' KILEY REID

'Such a sincere blast to read' KAVEH AKBAR

The Tiny Things Are Heavier follows Sommy, a Nigerian woman who comes to the United States for graduate school two weeks after her brother, Mezie, attempts suicide. Plagued by the guilt of leaving Mezie behind, Sommy struggles to fit into her new life as a student and an immigrant. Lonely and homesick, Sommy soon enters a complicated relationship with her boisterous Nigerian roommate, Bayo, a relationship that plummets into deceit when Sommy falls for Bryan, a biracial American, whose estranged Nigerian father left the States immediately after his birth. Bonded by their feelings of unbelonging and a vague sense of kinship, Sommy and Bryan transcend the challenges of their new relationship.

During summer break, Sommy and Bryan visit the bustling city of Lagos, Nigeria, where Sommy hopes to reconcile with Mezie and Bryan plans to connect with his father. But when a shocking and unexpected event throws their lives into disarray, it exposes the cracks in Sommy's relationships and forces her to confront her notions of self and familial love.

A daring and ambitious novel rendered in stirring, tender prose, The Tiny Things Are Heavier is a captivating portrait that explores the hardships of migration, the subtleties of Nigeria's class system, and how far we'll go to protect those we love.

Reviews

Esther Ifesinachi Okonkwo takes pleasure seriously. The brilliant, unpretentious music of her prose delights the ear, her twisty page-turning narrative delights the mind, and the wincing big-hearted bumble of her characters delights the soul. I love the novel's hero Sommy like a pal I could pick up the phone and call. Okonkwo's work embodies the Horatian commandment for writers combine the "dulce' with the "utile." The Tiny Things are Heavier is a profound, lasting debut, and it's also just such a sincere blast to read. * Kaveh Akbar, NYT Bestselling author of Martyr! *
A gracefully told and sharply observed debut. Okonkwo has produced a beautiful study and story of what we owe to our families, friends, lovers, and ourselves. Complex characters, wild intimacy . . . this one doesn't shy away from the truth of devastation. * Kiley Reid, New York Times bestselling author of SUCH A FUN AGE and COME AND GET IT *
A rich, complex and wholly moving account of just a fraction of a life that feels so wide and full that it's hard to believe it's fiction, and it's marvel to know that a writer like Esther Ifesinachi Okonkwo is only just beginning what I'm sure will be a long and stunning career. The Tiny Things Are Heavier is both a gut-punch and a warm embrace of a novel that is not soon forgotten. * Ore Agbaje-Williams, author of THE THREE OF US *
An incredibly moving portrait of a woman becoming. Esther Ifesinachi Okonkwo has gifted us profound writing and an exquisitely-realized cast of characters. * LaToya Watkins, National Book Award-nominated author of PERISH and HOLLER, CHILD *
The Tiny Things are Heavier is a brave, winning novel of contemporary migration, with all the collisions and losses, the transformations and conflicts it brings. Okonkwo's writing is confident, lush, embodied, and a joy to read. In her carefully-rendered and specific world, we touch, and are moved by, the universal. * Sarah Thankam Mathews, National Book Award-nominated author of ALL THIS COULD BE DIFFERENT *
Okonkwo's silken writing is a delight, her barely perceptible style organic as breath; before you know it, her characters are under your skin. The Tiny Things Are Heavier explores migration, yes, but is exemplary about matters of the heart great and small, familial or concerning the kindness of strangers, that tectonic shift of human beings drifting ever closer. Okonkwo is blessed with abundant talent. I'm excited to see her rise. * Courttia Newland, author of A River Called Time *
An immigrant contends with alienation and love in Esther Ifesinachi Okonkwo's spirited novel The Tiny Things Are Heavier...a piercing coming-of-age novel in which a woman learns to separate other people's expectations from her own desires. -- Karen Rigby * Forward Review *
While this debut novel from Esther Ifesinachi Okonkwo might be most easily compared to Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's 2013 love story Americanah, I found its recounting of the everyday joys and anxieties of a Nigerian woman who leaves home for the U.S. and soon finds herself entangled in relationships with two very different men to be perhaps more analogous to Sally Rooney's Conversations With Friends. That said, Okonkwo's ability to skillfully narrate the triumphs, upheavals and disappointments of young love defies comparison to any other writer; the fact that The Tiny Things Are Heavier is Okonkwo's debut is hard to believe given the fully realized scope of her prose, and finishing her novel made me long for a hundred or so more pages. -- Emma Specter * Vogue *
A powerful debut about love, identity and the weight of family. When Sommy leaves Nigeria for grad school in the US - just weeks after her brother's suicide attempt - guilt, loneliness and desire collide. Torn between two men and two countries, a trip back to Lagos promises healing, but an unexpected twist shatters everything. Emotionally rich and deeply human, this is a bold, beautifully told story about belonging, betrayal and the lengths we go to for those we love. * Sheerluxe, The Books You Need To Read This Summer *

Author Bio

Esther Ifesinachi Okonkwo is a graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, and a second-year PhD student in Creative Writing at Florida State University. Her fiction has appeared in Isele Magazine, Guernica, and Catapult. She's a recipient of the 2021 Elizabeth George Foundation Grant.