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Queenie cover art

Queenie

Written by: Candice Carty-Williams
Narrated by: Shvorne Marks
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Publisher's Summary

One of Time’s 100 Best Books of the Year

One of NPR’s Best Books of 2019

Named One of the Most Anticipated Books of 2019 by Woman’s Day, Newsday, Publishers Weekly, Bustle, and Book Riot!

“[B]rilliant, timely, funny, heartbreaking.” (Jojo Moyes, number one New York Times best-selling author of Me Before You)

For fans of Luster and I May Destroy You, a disarmingly honest, unapologetically Black, and undeniably witty debut novel that will speak to those who have gone looking for love and found something very different in its place.

Queenie Jenkins is a 25-year-old Jamaican British woman living in London, straddling two cultures and slotting neatly into neither. She works at a national newspaper, where she’s constantly forced to compare herself to her White middle-class peers. After a messy breakup from her White long-term boyfriend, Queenie seeks comfort in all the wrong places...including several hazardous men who do a good job of occupying brain space and a bad job of affirming self-worth.

As Queenie careens from one questionable decision to another, she finds herself wondering, “What are you doing? Why are you doing it? Who do you want to be?” - all of the questions today’s woman must face in a world trying to answer them for her.

With “fresh and honest” (Jojo Moyes) prose, Queenie is a remarkably relatable exploration of what it means to be a modern woman searching for meaning in today’s world.

©2019 Candice Carty-Williams (P)2019 Simon & Schuster

What listeners say about Queenie

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  • Overall
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    5 out of 5 stars

Magnificent novel.

Best book I’ve read and listened to in ages—which is saying something as I’m a literature phd student. Both beautifully written and Incredibly performed—Carty-Williams’ characters come powerfully alive through Marks’ phenomenal voice and virtuoso reading. Each character and their accent more memorable than the last. The sound effects were also hugely welcome. The story lends itself naturally from struggle to joy to sadness and back again and moved me from laughter to tears with ease. Highly recommended to all. An especially relevant read for our current, troubled times. Queenie offers a profound and important examination of sexism and racism (among others) at the same time that it provides a unique experience, perspective, and journey of how to find a way to live and love (ourselves and others) again in the face of struggle and such ignorance and hate. I fell in love with each highly believable character, but most especially Queenie. I’ll be reading—and listening—to this book again and again.

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Excellent book and well performed

This was an excellent book. The narrator did some great voices which lent to the humour and drama written in the book itself. Would recommend 10/10

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AMAZING

This is an amazing and hilarious story of resiliency and mental health. I laughed, I cried, and I truly connected with Queenie. a true depiction of trauma and healing in the Black community.

The narrator was fantastic!

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10/10 would recommend

This was so entertaining I think I’ll listen again (which I’ve never done with audiobooks). The voice/performance was AMAZING and combined with the writing had me in stitches. Telling all my friends to go listen!

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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hard to be sympathetic, couldn't finish

Neurotic (and obtuse?) young woman fails at relationships, casual sex, friendship, and work. Unbelievable (to me at least) how she is unable to fend off even the meanest unwanted advance. Found it difficult to be even slightly sympathetic to Queenie's self-generated problems even in a systemically racist environment. Good narrator

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  • Overall
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Good!

Good coming into yourself story. Queenie's battle with life's issues, men, and mental health is an adventurous story. She touches on the black struggles and allows the reader to see through the eyes of a black woman. overall a good listen

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relatable stories are important

I really loved this book. Candice Carty-Williams wrote such a relatable story about being a first-born immigrant from the Caribbean and navigating your parents' customs with the new world you're growing up in. I saw so much of myself in the main character and hope that any young black person who has struggled with the same themes can also see themselves. Shvrone Marks's narration is perfect in relating to Queenie and the other characters. You feel like it's your family, your friend, your experience. I initially borrowed it from my library, but I ended up buying it because I had to own it.

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  • Overall
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Amazing book

Great performance with the accents. As a North American I enjoyed them the most. Much respect for the Caribbean diaspora.

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Amazing performance! Great book

Really relatable. Especially for children who were raised by Jamaican parents/grandparents. Women of all ages should read this and pass it down to their daughters. it could really open up some important discussions.

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Brilliant!

I thoroughly enjoyed it! As much as I felt Queenie had a highly dysfunctional relationship with the men in her life and a disappointment dynamic with her friends. I did relate to the ‘drama’ of Queenie’s young life. Her bad decisions and anxieties and poor prioritisation skills were familiar to me as a young woman who’s friends with young women. The way mental health is addressed in a serious but totally unimportant way felt do normal. Queenie’s story felt like like and I loved it

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