Where the Black Flowers Bloom

A gripping, richly imagined fantasy set in an alternate African world in which a Black girl finds her power and saves her people from evil, by the Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Award–winning author of Black Panther: The Young Prince. 

“Seek the Underground Kingdom, where the black flowers bloom.”

Asha doesn’t understand the mysterious words Suna manages to utter before she dies, just that the only mother she has ever known is gone. Together with her friend Obo, she sets off to find answers—but the land of Alkebulan is vast and filled with strange creatures, and there’s an evil sorcerer, the Shrike, stalking Asha and spreading darkness throughout the realm. Along the way, Asha begins to discover her own untapped powers, and uncovers shocking secrets about her family and the Shrike. Could Asha be the key to stopping him and bringing peace to the people of Alkebulan at last?

Ronald L. Smith is the Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Award–winning author of Hoodoo,The Mesmerist, The Owls Have Come to Take Us Away, Gloom Town, and Black Panther: The Young Prince. He lives in Baltimore, MD.