The Chapel Beneath the Earth
By Masela Harrison Ohoko
Genre: Literary Fiction | Coming of Age | Feminist Magical Realism

Some truths are buried. Others grow roots.

When thirteen-year-old Nela is sent to live in a remote village after a family tragedy, she expects a season of quiet grief and distant relatives. But the earth beneath her new home tells different stories—stories that hum through the soil, curl through tree roots, and press against her chest while she sleeps.

There, beneath the cracked foundations of an old chapel, she finds something sacred and buried: a place forgotten by time and memory, yet alive with the voices of women who once sang, resisted, and remembered.

Drawn deeper into visions, whispers, and dreams she cannot explain, Nela must choose whether to ignore the pull of the earth or listen to what it has guarded for generations.