Debut author Tomi Oyemakinde will release his first novel, a gripping YA thriller titled The Changing Man, this September. The rights were sold in a two-book deal to Feiwel and Friends, an imprint of Macmillan Children’s Books. The second book will be published in 2024.

The Changing Man follows a scholarship student at a wealthy but creepy boarding school who discovers some secrets that are best left hidden. The student is forced to investigate a decades-old urban legend when she comes across a missing classmate who reappears “glassy-eyed and inexplicably changed.”

The publisher called Oyemakinde’s YA title “an unforgettable debut: at once an edge-of-your seat thriller and a thought-provoking statement about race, class and who gets to decide who matters in our society.” The Changing Man sounds like an intriguing novel and we cannot wait to get our hands on a copy soon!

Read the synopsis below:

Face front. Watch your back. BE BRAVE.

If it was left to her, Ife Adebola wouldn’t be starting at Nithercott School. Because despite being in the Urban Achievers scholarship program, her parents can barely afford the tuition. No matter who, like her classmate Bijal, is trying to be friends with her or how much the prestigious boarding school tries to pull her in, Ife is determined not to get caught up in any of it.

But when another student, Malika, begins acting strange, Ife can’t help but wonder if there’s more going on at Nithercott than she realizes. Could there be any truth to the school’s decades-old legend of the Changing Man? Is there any connection to the missing older brother of her classmate, Ben?

As more questions arise, Ife has no choice but to team up with Ben and Bijal to investigate. But can the trio act quickly enough to uncover who is behind everything, before one—or all—of them is the Changing Man’s next victim?

When asked about his upcoming novel, Oyemakinde remarked, “I can’t wait to share The Changing Man with readers. I packed this story with everything I enjoy – strangeness, mystery, and heart. It is also an invitation into how I see the world.”

Tomi Oyemakinde grew up in London and the Netherlands. Oyemakinde is committed to crafting stories centered on Black protagonists thriving across genres, audiences & worlds.

Congrats to Oyemakinde on his debut novel! Preorder here.