Here Comes the Sun: A Novel - Hardcover

Dennis-Benn, Nicole

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1631491768 ISBN 13: 9781631491764

Publisher: Liveright, 2016

Synopsis

Winner of the Lambda Literary Award, and Finalist for the Center for Fiction's First Novel Prize and the NYPL Young Lions Fiction Award

Named a Best Book of 2016 by: New York Times, NPR, Buzzfeed, San Francisco Chronicle, The Root, BookRiot, Kirkus, Amazon, WBUR's "On Point," and Barnes & Noble

In this radiant, highly anticipated debut, a cast of unforgettable women battle for independence while a maelstrom of change threatens their Jamaican village.

Capturing the distinct rhythms of Jamaican life and dialect, Nicole Dennis- Benn pens a tender hymn to a world hidden among pristine beaches and the wide expanse of turquoise seas. At an opulent resort in Montego Bay, Margot hustles to send her younger sister, Thandi, to school. Taught as a girl to trade her sexuality for survival, Margot is ruthlessly determined to shield Thandi from the same fate. When plans for a new hotel threaten their village, Margot sees not only an opportunity for her own financial independence but also perhaps a chance to admit a shocking secret: her forbidden love for another woman. As they face the impending destruction of their community, each woman―fighting to balance the burdens she shoulders with the freedom she craves―must confront long-hidden scars. From a much-heralded new writer, Here Comes the Sun offers a dramatic glimpse into a vibrant, passionate world most outsiders see simply as paradise.

About this title

Review:

An Amazon Best Book of July 2016: Here Comes the Sun is a brilliant, gut-punch of a debut novel. Set on the white sand beaches, resorts and shacks of Jamaica, Nicole Dennis-Benn tells the story of four Jamaican women as they struggle to find their independence amidst the sprawling resorts that both provide and threaten their livelihood. Margot is brash and brawny. She works at a hotel, hustling to ensure the guests are attended to—in all manners of speaking. Her younger sister, Thandi. struggles with her identity as a black woman in a school full of white wealthy students. Their mother, Delores, is as unforgiving as she is brutal and her decisions will break your heart, as they did her daughter’s. And then there’s Verdene, a smart ostracized gay woman who is vilified for her sexuality. I fell hard for these characters – for their defiance and vulnerability, for their grit and morally ambiguous choices – and for the island-life that Nicole Dennis-Benn has captured. You can almost feel the hot stick of the sun while reading, the sweat of work and the incongruities of wealth and power, sexuality and love. Here Comes the Sun is a bright story about the dark side of tourism, sex and relationships, of getting ahead...And you will tan from its rays. --Al Woodworth, The Amazon Book Review

About the Author:

Nicole Dennis-Benn is a Lambda Literary Award winner and New York Foundation for the Arts Artist Fellowship recipient. She's also a finalist for the 2016 John Leonard Prize National Book Critics Circle Award, the 2016 Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, and the 2017 Young Lions Fiction Award for her debut novel, Here Comes the Sun-- a New York Times Notable Book of the year, an NPR, Amazon, Barnes & Noble Best Book of 2016. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, Elle, Electric Literature, Ebony, and the Feminist Wire. She was born and raised in Kingston, Jamaica, and lives with her wife in Brooklyn, New York. Her website is nicoledennisbenn.com.

About this edition

• Publisher: Liveright
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1631491768
• ISBN 13: 9781631491764
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 352