Queenie

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
BOOK OF THE YEAR AT THE BRITISH BOOK AWARDS
SHORTLISTED FOR THE COSTA FIRST NOVEL AWARD
LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION
'A deliciously funny, characterful, topical and thrilling novel for our times' Bernardine Evaristo, winner of the Booker Prize
'Brilliant, timely, funny, heartbreaking' Jojo Moyes
'A must-read novel about sex, selfhood, and the best friendships that get us through it all' Candace Bushnell, author of Sex and the City
Queenie is a twenty-five-year-old Black woman living in south London, straddling Jamaican and British culture whilst slotting neatly into neither. She works at a national newspaper where she's constantly forced to compare herself to her white, middle-class peers, and beg to write about Black Lives Matter. After a messy break up from her long-term white boyfriend, Queenie finds herself seeking comfort in all the wrong places.
As Queenie veers from one regrettable decision to another, she finds herself wondering, What are you doing? Why are you doing it? Who do you want to be? - the questions that every woman today must face in a world that keeps trying to provide the answers for them.
A darkly comic and bitingly subversive take on life, love, race and family, Queenie will have you nodding in recognition, crying in solidarity and rooting for this unforgettable character every step of the way. A disarmingly honest, boldly political and truly inclusive tale that will speak to anyone who has gone looking for love and acceptance and found something very different in its place.
**
LONGLISTED FOR THE JHALAK PRIZE
SHORTLISTED FOR WATERSTONES BOOK OF THE YEAR
SHORTLISTED FOR FOYLES BOOK OF THE YEAR
SHORTLISTED FOR COMEDY WOMAN IN PRINT PRIZE 2020
BLACKWELL'S DEBUT NOVEL OF THE YEAR
NAMED ONE OF THE TIMES, GUARDIAN, SUNDAY TIMES, DAILY MAIL AND EVENING STANDARD'S BEST BOOKS OF 2019

Candice Carty-Williams was born and raised in south London, by way of Jamaica. She is a novelist, showrunner, culture writer, and author of Book of the Year Award winning and Sunday Times bestselling Queenie, as well as the young adult novella Empress and Aniya, and the Sunday Times bestselling People Person. She adapted Queenie for Channel 4 and Hulu in 2024, and wrote and showran original drama, Champion, for Netflix and BBC One in 2023. In 2016, Candice created and launched the Guardian and 4th Estate 4thWrite Prize for underrepresented writers, the first inclusive initiative of its kind in book publishing. Candice is the ex Guardian Review books columnist, has interviewed and written for i-D, Vogue, The Face, the Sunday Times, BEAT Magazine, Black Ballad and many more publications. Queenie received global acclaim, and was described as vital, disarmingly honest and boldly political. It was adapted for Channel 4 and Hulu in 2024, and her original drama, Champion, aired on BBC One in the UK, and on Netflix globally, in 2023, receiving five stars across the board.