Sky Full of Elephants: A Novel By Cebo Campbell

In The Kingdom of Alabama, Cebo Campbell presents a bold and imaginative debut that explores identity and race in a radically transformed America. Following a cataclysmic event where all white people in the U.S. mysteriously walk into bodies of water, the country is left grappling with its new reality. A year later, Charlie Brunton, a Black professor of electric and solar power systems at Howard University and a man with a troubled past, receives an unexpected call from his estranged daughter, Sidney.

Sidney, now nineteen, has spent the year in isolation in Wisconsin, struggling with trauma and fear in a world she doesn’t fully understand. Her mother and step-family have vanished along with the rest of the white population, leaving her to fend for herself. Despite their strained relationship, Sidney turns to Charlie for help, and the two strangers embark on a journey across the reimagined landscape of America.

As they travel south towards the Kingdom of Alabama, a region reshaped by the absence of white people, Charlie and Sidney must confront not only the external challenges of their journey but also their internal struggles with identity and belonging. Their quest for answers reveals new dimensions of their own selves and the world around them, challenging everything they thought they knew about race, community, and personal growth.

The Kingdom of Alabama is a powerful and thought-provoking novel that blends heart and humor while offering a profound exploration of Black identity in both an altered reality and our own world.