Organisations
Organisation information sheet
The book, what it offers a group, the free support and how to order copies, on one page you can forward.
Download the one-page sheet (PDF)
The book
Songs of Dust and Water by M.J. Hydara. Independently published, 2026. English. Literary fiction.
- Paperback: ISBN 9798162251088, 252 pages. Published 16 October 2026.
- Kindle edition: published 15 October 2026.
- Length: about 60,000 words; 28 chapters and a Coda, in two parts.
What it is about
Two development projects in the dry country of West Africa, ten years and six hundred kilometres apart. In the first, a foreign-funded plant of glass and steel is built beside a village that is never allowed to touch it. In the second, a village with a bitter well takes help on its own terms: it keeps its accounts on a wall and writes rules that hold. Then a company offers to buy everything the villages have made, and they must vote.
Why it suits organisations
The novel gives a group a shared story to think with, set in countries of its own, so nobody has to defend a real project. The group is free to question how either village does things: it is a story to think with, not a model to copy. Suggested themes for discussion:
- Who owns a project, and who is allowed to mend it
- How a community makes rules for shared money, and tests them
- What an open ledger protects, and what it exposes
- Unpaid work, and who counts it
- What a choice costs, and who pays
It may suit charities and development organisations, cooperatives, water and environmental groups, community groups, libraries and workplace reading groups.
Free support on the website
- A self-guided discussion session of 60 to 90 minutes that the group runs itself, built on Part One (chapters 1–9), with an optional second session on Part Two: the session.
- A reading-group guide in three meetings, a glossary and guide to the names, and a quotation bank.
- Permission to print, copy and adapt the materials for discussion within your organisation, with credit (full terms).
Ordering copies
- Paperback from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com. A Kindle copy belongs to the Amazon account that bought it, so for a group the paperback is usually the practical choice.
- Bookshops and libraries can ask their usual supplier to check ISBN 9798162251088. Wider distribution may take a few weeks to appear in catalogues.
Free resources: songsofdustandwater.com/universities-and-groups · Checked against the novel, October 2026.
