Patsy by Nicole Dennis-Benn

From award-winning novelist Nicole Dennis-Benn comes this beautifully layered portrait of motherhood, immigration and sacrifice

Patsy yearns to escape the beautiful but impoverished Jamaican town where she was raised for a new life in New York and the chance to start afresh. Above all, she hopes to be reunited with her oldest friend, Cicely, and to rekindle their young love. But spreading her wings will come at a price: she must leave her five-year-old daughter, Tru, behind. And Patsy is soon confronted by the stark reality of life as an undocumented migrant in a hostile city. 

Expertly evoking the jittery streets of New York and the languid rhythms and lilting patois of Jamaica, Patsyweaves between the lives of Patsy and Tru as mother and daughter ultimately find a way back to one another. Daring, tender and profound, this is the story of one woman's fight to discover her sense of self in a world that tries to define her, and of the lasting threads of love stretching across years and oceans.
 
‘Dennis-Benn uses her rich an illuminating storytelling to weave a narrative of two lives on the margins, both in Jamaica and America. At once enrapturing, heartbreaking and yearning… A literary novel with a heart of gold.' - Diva Magazine
 
‘Frank, funny, salty, heartbreaking, full of love.' - Alexander Chee, author of How To Write an Autobiographical Novel
 
‘Patsy is a thoroughly absorbing saga of two female protagonists' unstoppable determination to thrive, no matter what obstacles are placed in their way.' - Guardian
 
WINNER OF THE LAMBDA LITERARY AWARD 2020

A TIME MAGAZINE 'MUST READ BOOK OF 2019'

LONGLISTED FOR A PEN/FAULKNER AWARD 2020