THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
BOOK OF THE YEAR AT THE BRITISH BOOK AWARDS
SHORTLISTED FOR THE COSTA FIRST NOVEL AWARD
LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN’S PRIZE FOR FICTION
‘A deliciously funny, characterful, topical and thrilling novel for our times’ Bernardine Evaristo, winner of the Booker Prize
‘Brilliant, timely, funny, heartbreaking’ Jojo Moyes
‘A must-read novel about sex, selfhood, and the best friendships that get us through it all’ Candace Bushnell, author of Sex and the City
Queenie is a twenty-five-year-old Black woman living in south London, straddling Jamaican and British culture whilst slotting neatly into neither. She works at a national newspaper where she’s constantly forced to compare herself to her white, middle-class peers, and beg to write about Black Lives Matter. After a messy break up from her long-term white boyfriend, Queenie finds herself seeking comfort in all the wrong places.
As Queenie veers from one regrettable decision to another, she finds herself wondering, What are you doing? Why are you doing it? Who do you want to be? – the questions that every woman today must face in a world that keeps trying to provide the answers for them.
A darkly comic and bitingly subversive take on life, love, race and family, Queenie will have you nodding in recognition, crying in solidarity and rooting for this unforgettable character every step of the way. A disarmingly honest, boldly political and truly inclusive tale that will speak to anyone who has gone looking for love and acceptance and found something very different in its place.
******
LONGLISTED FOR THE JHALAK PRIZE
SHORTLISTED FOR WATERSTONES BOOK OF THE YEAR
SHORTLISTED FOR FOYLES BOOK OF THE YEAR
SHORTLISTED FOR COMEDY WOMAN IN PRINT PRIZE 2020
BLACKWELL’S DEBUT NOVEL OF THE YEAR
NAMED ONE OF THE TIMES, GUARDIAN, SUNDAY TIMES, DAILY MAIL AND EVENING STANDARD’S BEST BOOKS OF 2019
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Reviews
Candice Carty Williams is my new favourite writer and she will be yours, too...I needed this book in my early twenties. I have never felt so seen in fiction. My heart is full.
This smart, funny, and tender debut embraces a modern woman's messiness.
Queenie is the sort of novel you just can't stop talking about and want everyone you know to read. Snort your tea out funny one moment and utterly heart-breaking the next ... I absolutely loved it
I ate this up in one greedy, joyous gulp. I loved Queenie and was cheering her on all the way
Adorable, funny, heartbreaking
Queenie has all the things you want in a debut novel - a startlingly fresh voice, characters you fall in love with from the very first page, and a joyous turn of phrase that makes this book almost impossible to put down. In turns hilariously funny and quietly devastating, Queenie is an important, timely story.
Hilarious and off the wall and tender
A blistering blend of funny, filthy, frank and dark, this is the mark of a true voice at work.
Hilarious, compelling, painful, enlightening, honest. I loved it.
We are irresistibly drawn into Queenie's world by a romcom which is wry and often hilarious.
Incredibly funny, this is the book that everyone will be talking about.
Filled with raw emotion tempered with wry humour, this debut is bitter-sweet.
Honest and heartfelt
This is a funny, clever, heartbreaking lightning bolt of a first novel, by a writer bristling with talent.
This debut is original, heart-breaking, funny and clever, and also carries many important messages... [this] book blew my mind in all the best ways. I'm still rooting for Queenie long after turning the final page.
Brilliant, timely, funny, heartbreaking
This is an important, timely and disarming novel, thirst-quenching and long overdue: one that will be treasured by "any type of black girl" and hordes of other readers besides.
This is an amazing novel about what it means to be a black girl whose world is falling apart and needs to find the strength to put it back together
A black Bridget Jones, perfectly of the moment.
I enjoyed Queenie a lot; sharp, relatable, and incredibly evocative
Smart, thoughtful and funny
A delight from start to finish... a little bit of Fleabag but less double-barrelled and more relatable
[A] smart and breezy comic debut
Queenie is a masterclass in how to write accessible political fiction about race and gender. Funny, relatable, sad, and hopeful; Candice Carty-Williams is a writer to watch.
I was engrossed and loved Queenie - her humour, her pain, her politics, her friends, her family!
This year welcomes Candice Carty-Williams to the literary scene. In 2016, best-selling author Jojo Moyes offered the use of her rural cottage to a wannabe novelist trying to finish a book; she selected Candice from more than 600 applicants.
This topical, timely debut's bracing frankness has a blazing purpose... vital and often funny
The plot spoke to my soul...Queenie's journey as a millennial is relatable on so many levels. I'm so besotted with [Queenie] that I'm heavily delaying finding out how this enchanting tale ends. It'll be a bittersweet day when it finally arrives.
Queenie is the best mate we all want - funny, sharp and more than a little vulnerable. I loved climbing inside her mind and wish I could have stayed longer. I adored this novel
perfect for anyone who loved Fleabag
We are irresistibly drawn into Queenie's world by this fresh romcom which is wry and often hilarious, even when it goes to some dark places.
A candid and funny, no-holds-barred exploration of a young black Woman's life... Carty- Williams is a talented writer with a fresh perspective that the publishing industry desperately needs. Joyous, memorable and necessary.
One of the buzziest debuts of 2019
Funny, wise and of the moment, this book and this writer are the ones to watch
A really special book with much to say about black female identity, sexual politics, group chats & emotional becoming in a way that feels totally unforced. Filthy, funny & profound
Candice gives so generously with her joy, pain and humour ... a beautiful and compelling book