These Letters End in Tears

'If by some chance you happen on these letters, know that I waited for you. And if you don't find me, it is not because I stopped waiting...'

While chasing a rogue football, Fatima crosses paths with Bessem and the instant attraction between the two propels them into a life-changing romance. Despite an atmosphere of threat due to the criminalisation of same-sex relationships in their home country of Cameroon, Fatima and Bessem persevere in living out their love. All seems to be going well, until one day tragedy strikes, and Fatima disappears...

Thirteen years later, Bessem is now a university professor, keeping her sexuality secret but bonding with her equally-closeted friend Jamal and the queer community around her. But Fatima still haunts her. A chance encounter with people from her past, pushes Bessem to finally go after the truth of her lover's whereabouts.

Told mostly through unsent letters, These Letters End in Tears, powerfully charts all the different ways that love, despite all odds, can persevere.

Xaviere writes with care and love. A beautiful story spanning years, is delicately told making it impossible to hold back the tears that surged forward. Xaviere is an author who weaves words together in such a way that they haunt you long after, you've read the last page. A gorgeous and heart wrenching debut. -- Kelechi Okafor, author of Edge of Here
LGBTQ Reads, A Most Anticipated Title of 2024
"A gut punch of a novel. Every now and then one story will consume every part of you and this will do it . . . A beautiful and wrenching story." -- Adam Vitcavage, Debutiful
"Musih Tedji Xaviere's debut novel These Letters End In Tears is a beautifully tender, heartfelt story about love and the devastating consequences of a world that is not yet all accepting. Her prose is deft and delicate, pulling you quickly in and holding you, as though you were living it." -- JJ Bola, author of The Selfless Act of Breathing
"An urgent and devastating story about the cost of living in a place that refuses to recognize your humanity. With vivid and textured prose, Xaviere weaves a tale readers will not soon forget." -- Soon Wiley, author of When We Fell Apart
"A tender, moving portrait of forbidden desire. In deft, clear prose, Xaviere presents us with the devastating and yet redemptive power of love." -- Chukwuebuka Ibeh, author of Blessings
"An engaging debut of a memorable forbidden love beautifully narrated by one of the voices to watch." -- Zukiswa Wanner, author of The Madams
"Xaviere has woven together a needed story about love and how that love gets torn apart by homophobia. In lovely prose and an intimate epistolary style, we follow Bessem's journey in finding her long-lost love." -- Soraya Palmer, author of The Human Origins of Beatrice Porter and Other Essential Ghosts

MUSIH TEDJI XAVIERE is a Cameroonian fiction writer based in the UK. Her debut novel, These Letters End in Tears, won the 2021 Pontas and JJ Bola Emerging Writers Prize. She is represented by the Pontas Literary and Film Agency.

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