A searing exploration of the global migration crisis that moves from Nigeria to Libya to Italy, from an exciting new literary voice.“In bringing to life Able God’s story, Kolawole shows us why African lives matter and shows us that the continent teems with millions of Able Gods, people full of promise and potential who can help build a better world.”—Jeffery Renard Allen, author of Fat Time and Other Stories and Song of the Shank

Able God works for low pay at a four-star hotel, where he must flash a smile for wealthy guests. When not tending to the hotel’s overprivileged clientele, he muses over self-help books and the game of chess.But Able’s ordinary life is upended when an early morning room service order leads him to Akudo, a sex worker involved with a powerful but dan- gerous hotel guest. Caught in a web of violence, guilt, and fear, Able must run to save himself—a journey that leads him into the desert with a group of drug-addled migrants, headed by charismatic religious leader Ben Ten. The travelers’ dream of reaching Europe—and a new life—shatters when they fall prey to human traffickers and find them- selves fighting for their freedom.As Able God moves into the treacherous unknown, the foundations of his beliefs are forever altered. Suspenseful, incisive, and illuminating, The Road to the Salt Sea is a story of family, fate, religion, survival, and what often happens to those who seek their fortunes elsewhere.