House of Margins by Tloto Tsamaase is about Renewa trying to find out what happened to her sister, Anaya.
Anaya was an up and coming Afrosurrealist writer from Botswana. As a finalist for the prestigious career-insuring Günter Prize, she goes to stay in the Günter Huis (it means house) to write a manuscript. Then she disappears.
Renewa finds Anaya’s missing phone one day. It’s just on her bed. The phone has a true crime podcast about Anaya, and it gives Renewa access to episodes that don’t exist for anyone else.
The podcast seems to be narrated by Anaya herself. (Probably with an AI voice, Renewa and her parents think.)
Between pieces of Renewa’s journey, the book shows us the podcast transcript, subscription options (top contributors get access to exclusive evidence!), Anaya’s poetry, news articles about the events, and the comments people should know not to read. Especially when they’re about your missing sister.
The mixed format works because there’s a lot going on in this novel. The Huis is evil. The podcast is probably evil. It addresses the publishing industry whitewashing colonialism to make Black Africa stories easier for white readers. There’s rape and abuse and assault. The story is blunt with its messages. It’s dark and weird.
I read the book because I was interested in the author after reading her other novel. I might not have if I saw it’s been called Serial (the podcast) meets The Other Black Girl. I didn’t like Serial and thought The Other Black Girl was fine. Even though I did like House of Margins, I don’t disagree. (Maybe, especially because I didn’t like that podcast.)
