FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Los Angeles, California — June 16, 2026
A powerful literary debut that traces one Nuer woman’s quiet rebellion against ancestral tradition as Christianity and war reshape her South Sudanese village and family.
As the sun hangs low over the thatched roofs of Wangjak village, casting long shadows across the earth, Nyayiela hurries home from the church, her heart drumming with fear. Rumors of her visit have already spread, and she knows her husband, Chief Chuol, will confront her. He embodies the unyielding weight of ancestral custom; she has begun to feel the pull of a different hope.
Gatluak Kedok Jiek’s sweeping novel follows Nyayiela, a young wife in a polygamous household, as she navigates the intimate fractures created when personal faith collides with the deep scar of ancestral worship. Set in the rich cultural world of the Nuer people, the story moves through the rhythms of village life, the grief of repeated loss, and the quiet negotiations of loyalty and obedience within a traditional marriage. Across three parts, it traces how the steady force of ancestral “fangs,” the blunting arrival of Christianity, and the outbreak of war reshape a single family and community.
Jiek brings an insider’s precision to the textures of Nuer custom, language, and cosmology while exploring universal questions of belonging, spiritual longing, and cultural survival. The result is a literary novel that feels both rooted in oral tradition and urgent for contemporary readers seeking nuanced portraits of faith, identity, and historical change in Africa.
“Through this story I have tried to honor the voices that first carried these tales and to examine the profound shifts—ancestral, spiritual, and violent—that tested our people,” said Gatluak Kedok Jiek. “It is both an act of preservation and an apology for interrupting the oral flow with writing.”
Featuring striking cover art by Keri Jamison that evokes the dramatic South Sudanese landscape and the collision of ancient strength, new faith, and modern conflict, The Leopard’s Last Growl is now available in paperback (ISBN 978-1-958139-79-0) and ebook formats from major retailers and sulisinternational.com.
About Sulis International Press
Sulis International Press empowers authors and delivers global entertainment and information through select fiction and nonfiction. Based in Los Angeles, Dallas, and London, its Riversong Books imprint publishes historical, literary, contemporary, science fiction, fantasy, and religious fiction that entertains while inviting deeper reflection.
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