Description

‘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

A fiercely poetic coming-of-age novel following a group of young women of colour in Queens, New York.

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 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.

‘Joyous, bittersweet, hilarious … a coming of age story for us all’ Nikesh Shukla, author of Brown Baby

‘A song of celebration, of mourning, of rage, of fierce living’ Rowan Hisayo Buchanan, author of Starling Days

‘If you liked LUSTER try BROWN GIRLS’ Sunday Times Style

‘Attracting huge amounts of buzz … a lyrical, urgent voice’ ipaper, Ten best books to read in 2022

‘A cracker of a first novel’ Glamour

‘A sensation in the US’ Guardian

‘Transporting … not to be missed’ Stylist

‘A daring debut … fearless’ New York Times

SHORTLISTED FOR THE CENTRE FOR FICTION 2022 FIRST NOVEL PRIZE

ONE OF THE MOST ANTICIPATED BOOKS OF 2022 IN THE NEW YORK TIMES, GUARDIAN, INDEPENDENT, GLAMOUR, STYLIST, INEWS, SUNDAY TIMES STYLE, LITERARY FRICTION PODCAST AND MORE.

Publisher Review

'Brown Girls achieves immediate lift-off ... [at] times, audaciously, it's as if she's talking about every brown girl alive during the past century ... Fearless' New York Times 'Told in a lyrical, urgent voice, it is a fierce examination of race, class and marginalisation in America today' i-News 'Brown Girls flows like a late night FM-radio dedication to the crew, the block, and the mission ... This book is a gift' Paul Beatty, author of The Sellout 'Transporting and energising ... it's not to be missed' Stylist 'Glorious ... While there is much that many brown girls will relate to-including experiences that feel stolen straight from my memories-Andreades succeeds in making the stories feel specific beyond a singular experience ... breadth, depth and enormous richness' New York Times Book Review 'An acute study of those tender moments of becoming. An ode to girlhood, inheritance, and the good trouble the body yields' Raven Leilani, author of Luster 'Brown Girls is filled with an unforgettable cast of characters ...Precise and powerful, this is a coming-of-age story for us all' Nikesh Shukla, author of Brown Baby 'A heady, poetic exploration of growing up ... It left me speechless.' Huma Qureshi, author of Things We Do Not Tell the People We Love 'A beautiful story of sisterhood... an absolutely breathtaking debut' Sara Jafari, author of The Mismatch 'Brown Girls is a song-of celebration, of mourning, of rage, of fierce living. Palasi does for the present what Yoko Ogawa does for history' Rowan Hisayo Buchanan, author of Starling Days 'I swallowed this book and was swallowed by it in return. ... irresistible' Emma Straub, author of All Adults Here 'Seething with raw, exuberant life ... It's hard to think of another book with more spirit or a keener eye' Alexandra Kleeman, author of Something New Under the Sun