About the Book
From the award-winning novelist Nicole Dennis-Benn, a brave, stirring portrait of a Jamaican woman who leaves everything behind for a new life in America
When Patsy gets her long-coveted visa to America, it’s the culmination of years of yearning to be reunited with Cicely, her oldest friend and secret love, who left home years before for the ‘land of opportunity’. Patsy’s plans do not include her religious mother or even her young daughter, Tru, both of whom she leaves behind in a bittersweet trail of sadness and relief. But Brooklyn is not at all what Cicely described in her letters, and to survive as an undocumented immigrant, Patsy is forced to work as a bathroom attendant, and ironically, as a nanny. Meanwhile, back in Jamaica, Tru struggles with her own questions of identity, grappling every day with what it means to be abandoned by a mother who has no intention of returning.
Passionate, moving, and fiercely urgent, Patsy is a haunting depiction of immigration and womanhood, and the silent threads of love stretching across years and oceans.
About the Author :
Nicole Dennis-Benn is the author of Here Comes the Sun, a New York Times Notable Book and winner of the Lambda Literary Award. Born and raised in Kingston, Jamaica, she teaches creative writing at Princeton University and lives with her wife in Brooklyn. Her website is www.nicoledennisbenn.com.
Review :
'One of the most stunning novels I've ever read' Diva
‘Whether the novel’s characters are bonding or breaking, their interactions are described with grace and nuance… With renewed hostility to newcomers in the US and UK, the publication of Patsy feels perfectly timed.’ Observer
‘Engrossing… Dennis-Benn has crafted a passionate, honest portrayal of freedom and motherhood.’ Elle
‘Enjoyable and constantly surprising... Alive to hardship yet never downbeat, this big, bustling odyssey offers a generous portrait of its mixed up cast.’
‘Sumptuous... If "queer" can refer not just to sexuality, but also to the act of turning something upside down, then Nicole Dennis-Benn, in her epic and gorgeous new novel, queers the immigrant saga. Patsy, her titular character, is complicated by her desires – for female love, for freedom from motherhood, for a second start in a new country – and Dennis-Benn renders the pains Patsy goes through to achieve those wants in dazzling technicolor.’
‘Patsy by Nicole Dennis-Benn is even better than her debut Here Comes the Sun... It's a heartbreaker but a heart mender, too... A satisfying read with no easy answers, but so much compassion.’
‘Patsy is a thoroughly absorbing saga of two female protagonists’ unstoppable determination to thrive, no matter what obstacles are placed in their way.’
‘Stunning... Though set in the past, the story and its reflections on borders and boundaries carry an urgent timeliness... There have been few narrative epics that effectively tally the emotional, logistical, physical, psychological and financial trials of the black female immigrant and mother or, likewise, the impact on the family of a black woman who dares transform herself. Dennis-Benn maps the internal terrain of black women yearning to be free — without romanticizing or ignoring their flaws... Patsy fills a literary void with compassion, complexity and tenderness.
‘A searing new take on immigration and what it means to be a mother. Passionate and urgent, Patsy explores what happens when a woman chooses herself over all else.’
'A thoughtful and enjoyable portrait of a woman seeking freedom, at all costs.'
‘In her new novel, Patsy, the writer tells an immigration story that defies conventions of motherhood and sexuality.’
‘Brilliant...a winning pick to help you escape reality... Dennis-Benn, a Jamaican immigrant herself, writes with keen awareness of what others experience living undocumented in America – and the compromises women make to prioritise themselves.’
‘Patsy is a book that'll make you reassess your own belief systems... It's brave and excellent reading.’
‘A novel that continually and subtly defies predictability as it tells a vital and remarkable life story… Again and again, Patsy surprises and illuminates.’
'Dennis-Benn has the uncanny ability to create characters that feel deeply, painfully real... A compulsively readable book that deftly grapples with maternal ambivalence.'
‘A moving examination of identity, sexuality, motherhood and immigration…the sort of book you can’t stop thinking about long after turning the last page.’
‘This novel is a layered portrait of motherhood, immigration and the sacrifices we make in the name of love.’
‘Nicole Dennis-Benn is an exquisite writer who paints scenes with words so vivid you might as well be walking through it as a character, not a reader.’
'A big-hearted slow burn of a novel that tackles the enormous themes of immigration, generational trauma, queerness, identity, poverty, class and race with a delicate touch... This is a stunning, empathetic rendering of a devastating clash between motherhood, selfhood and womanhood.'
‘Beautiful, shattering, and deeply affecting. Patsy’s story ultimately makes for a novel that is destined to endure.’
‘Dennis-Benn is a prodigious world-straddler, and not just geographically; her characters are memorable and fully drawn, and the devastating meta-legacies they conjure are all too real.’
‘[Patsy] lays waste to the privileged notion of having it all, an impossible pursuit when race, poverty and sexuality get in the way.’
‘Luminous... Patsy reminds us that it’s still radical for a young woman to pursue her own desires and ambitions and sexuality.’
‘Patsy is a portrait of black queer women grasping for self-determination, and a challenge to the conventions of what is expected of good mothers and good women and good immigrants. In writing beautifully about that unending struggle, Dennis-Benn finds a way to extend to black girls and women some of the love that the world may never offer.’
‘An emotional, sensual and complicated story.’
‘Gives voice to those usually voiceless... Not an easy read, but an illuminating one about life's most painful and difficult choices.’
‘A beautifully layered portrait of motherhood, immigration, and the sacrifices we make in the name of love from award-winning novelist Nicole Dennis-Benn.’
‘[A] heartbreaking, sensitive book that not only deftly demonstrates the impossible choices women must make in order to live the lives they want to live, but also exposes the specific hardships of immigrants in America.’
‘Patsy methodically and unapologetically engages with the choices women do and should be allowed to make, and…does so with nuance and grace… Ultimately, Patsy is a deeply queer, sensitive and vividly written novel about a woman’s right to want and a child’s right to carve her own path.’
‘When the title heroine of Dennis-Benn’s luminous second novel gets visa approval, she jumps at the chance to move to New York City, leaving behind all she knows of her home in Jamaica — including her 5-year-old daughter. Patsy reminds us that it’s still radical for a young woman to pursue her own desires and ambitions and sexuality. It’s a bittersweet meditation on ambivalent motherhood and personal satisfaction, as well as the assigned roles we would do anything to break away from, no matter what the cost.’
‘A complex examination of black queer women... A literary triumph.’
‘Patsy is a thoughtful exploration of the immigrant experience, motherhood, and the choices women are forced to make.’ POPSUGAR
‘A powerful novel... Written in a way that feels immediate and vivid, Patsy is a novel that draws you in and gives a voice to questions of immigration, sexuality, and gender. It feels like a novel that will linger with you long after the last page.’ Fiendfully Reading blog
‘For all the pain caused and endured, Patsy, her family and the ones who love them persevere. Dennis-Benn doesn’t tie too fine a bow on it all—homophobia and racism are omnipresent threats—but she offers the reader some hope that good intentions can add up to something beautiful.’ Paste
‘Frank, funny, salty, heartbreaking, full of love.’ Alexander Chee, author of How To Write an Autobiographical Novel
‘The richness of Dennis-Benn’s writing is taken to another level in Patsy, the story of a Jamaican woman working towards her own version of the American dream... Bliss.’ Candice Carty-Williams, author of Queenie
