Author(s): Daphne Palasi Andreades

FICTION | Staff Picks

A blazingly original and fiercely poetic coming-of-age novel following a group of young women of colour in Queens, New York. ‘Brown Girls flows like a late night FM-radio dedication to the crew, the block, and the mission. This book’s a gift’ Paul Beatty, author of The Sellout. ‘An ode to girlhood’ Raven Leilani, author of Luster. If you really want to know, we are the colour of 7-Eleven root beer. Colour of the charcoal pencil our sisters use to rim their eyes. Colour of our mother's darkest thread, which she loops through the needle. Colour of peanut butter. Brown Girls dives deep into the lives of a group of young women of colour growing up in Queens, New York. Here, streets echo with many languages, subways rumble above dollar stores and the briny scent of the ocean wafts in from Rockaway Beach. Here, girls like Nadira, Gabby, Naz, Trish, Angelique, and many others, struggle to reconcile their immigrant backgrounds with the American culture they come of age in. Here, they become friends for life. Or so they vow. In this bold debut told in a uniquely lyrical voice, Daphne Palasi Andreades paints a stunning collective portrait of the journey from girlhood to adulthood, set against a backdrop of race, class, and marginalisation in America today. Brown Girls is an unforgettable love letter to women of colour everywhere from a daring new writer. ‘A masterful triumph by a brilliant new author with an original voice’ Nicole Dennis-Benn, author of Here Comes the Sun ‘An exhilarating novel’ Megha Majumdar, author of A Burning