A remarkable, big-hearted debut from Zambian-American writer Iris Mwanza set in 1990s Lusaka in which a young lawyer must fight for the life of a teenage sex worker who is accused of crimes 'against the order of nature'

Bessy - Willbess - was a dancer, but that isn't all he did for money. He dreamed of leaving Zambia with his lover for the queer heaven of San Francisco. Grace Zulu was still fresh from the village, donning her suit and covering up her childhood scarifications each day to go to her corporate law job. Born with a highly developed sense of justice, she was excited to meet her first pro bono client; what she encounters in the jail cell, however, is a badly beaten boy with chipped teeth and an eye that's swollen shut. Within two weeks, Bessy has disappeared from custody - apparently released but no one sees him again.

Navigating the baked-in homophobia of Zambia's colonial legacy, the confused hurt and rage of Bessy's nuclear family, and the tensions between Christian kindness and its propensity to hate the sinner, Grace must pursue her legal case while tracking down the wily, dangerous owner of the club where Bessy was first arrested.