Queenie

By Candice Carty- Williams Trapeze, 400pp, £ 12.99

Candice CartyWilliams’ debut novel, Queenie, is a delight from start to finish. It focuses on the debauched life of 20- something Queenie Jenkins, an aspiring journalist from south London. She’s a little bit Fleabag, but less double- barrelled and more relatable.

This novel is so relevant that it could have been written tomorrow, with references from Dua Lipa’s

New Rules to the gentrification of Brixton Market. It’s important that a young black British woman like Carty- Williams is heard in the literary world, so thank goodness for Queenie being given a platform. You will cry with her, and cry for her, and anyone who has ever been dumped will nod and squirm in recognition at Queenie’s behaviour. By the end, you will love her friends as if they were your own and find yourself missing their Whatsapp chats. Queenie is flawed and troubled, but she seems so real. I found myself becoming very attached to her, and could barely put her story down.