Sky Full of Elephants, Cebo Campbell
Sky Full of Elephants, Cebo Campbell
8 Rating(s)
List: $25.99 | Sale: $18.20
Club: $12.99

Sky Full of Elephants

Author: Cebo Campbell

Narrator: Leon Nixon, Erin Ruth Walker, Janina Edwards

Unabridged: 10 hr 24 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 09/10/2024


Synopsis

In this “bold and imaginative” (Tananarive Due) “truly powerful and riveting story” (Booklist) set in a world where white people no longer exist, college professor Charlie Brunton receives a call from his estranged daughter Sidney, setting off a chain of events as they journey across a truly “post-racial” America in search of answers.

In a world without white people, what does it mean to be Black?

One day, a cataclysmic event occurs: all of the white people in America walk into the nearest body of water. A year later, Charlie Brunton is a Black man living in an entirely new world. Having served his time in prison for a wrongful conviction, he’s now a professor of electric and solar power systems at Howard University when he receives a call from someone he wasn’t even sure existed: his daughter Sidney, a nineteen-year-old left behind by her white mother and step-family.

Traumatized by the event, and terrified of the outside world, Sidney has spent a year in isolation in Wisconsin. Desperate for help, she turns to the father she never met, a man she has always resented. Sidney and Charlie meet for the first time as they embark on a journey across a truly “post-racial” America in search for answers. But neither of them are prepared for this new world and how they see themselves in it.

Heading south toward what is now called the Kingdom of Alabama, everything Charlie and Sidney thought they knew about themselves, and the world, will be turned upside down. Brimming with heart and humor, “this stunning allegory will spark much discussion” (Publishers Weekly, starred review) about the power of community and connection, about healing and self-actualization, and a reckoning with what it means to be Black in America, in both their world and ours.

About Cebo Campbell

Cebo Campbell is an author and creative director based in Brooklyn, New York. Winner of the Linda L. Ross Creative Writing Award and the Stories Award for Poetry, Cebo’s work has been featured in numerous publications. Cebo is the cofounder of the award-winning creative agency, Spherical, where he leads a team of creatives in shaping the best hotel brands in the world. Sky Full of Elephants is his debut novel.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Lala on January 10, 2025

Complex and simply transcendent......more

Goodreads review by Daidria on May 19, 2024

I see many white people reviewing this book and calling it uncomfortable. It’s SUPPOSED to be uncomfortable for us. It SHOULD be uncomfortable for us. That reaction to whiteness and white people being wiped out should really make is think about why that bothers us so much; and really, truly weigh an......more

Goodreads review by The Speculative Shelf on March 26, 2024

A bold, high-concept premise brought into sharp focus by Cebo Campbell’s lively and vibrant prose. A twist on a familiar formula (see The Leftovers or The Last of Us) – here, all white people walk into the sea and never return. What follows is the quest of an estranged father and daughter seeking com......more

Goodreads review by Mimi Ivy on September 28, 2024

I was not expecting a book about the sudden extinction of American white folks to feel very YA but here we are. This book was written for a high school audience. It’s also very preachy and - dare I say - self righteous. The characters share “historical facts” that, while quite interesting, have unna......more

Goodreads review by Andre on May 18, 2024

I’ll start at the end. The conclusion of this novel is a dud. Like a flat soda, no sizzle left for the denouement. However, getting to that end is quite a thoughtful journey. Protagonist Charles is the center of this highly implausible tale. As I’m sure you are all aware, the premise, all the white......more