This novel tells the fraught, layered tale of Patsy, a Jamaican woman who leaves her young daughter behind for the chance to immigrate to America and to reunite with her oldest friend and secret love, Cicely. Expecting a new life with new freedoms in the states, Patsy instead has to learn to accept less than ideal circumstances, working as a nanny despite being without her daughter, Tru, and coming to terms with her sexuality. As Tru struggles to understand why she was left behind and who she will become, Patsy gradually evolves her own sense of self, bridging the chasms between her identities as a mother, an immigrant, and a woman. If you have a chance to check out the audiobook, it really enriches the narrative to hear some lyrical patois spoken aloud.Publisher description:
Heralded for writing “deeply memorable character[s]” (Jennifer Senior, New York Times), Nicole Dennis-Benn introduces readers to an unforgettable heroine for our times: the eponymous Patsy, who leaves her young daughter behind in Jamaica to follow Cicely, her oldest friend, to New York. Beating with the pulse of a long-withheld confession and peppered with lilting patois, Patsy gives voice to a woman who looks to America for the opportunity to love whomever she chooses, bravely putting herself first. But to survive as an undocumented immigrant, Patsy is forced to work, ironically, as a nanny, while back in Jamaica her daughter, Tru, struggles to understand why she was left behind. Greeted with international critical acclaim from readers who, at last, saw themselves represented in Patsy, this astonishing novel “fills a literary void with compassion, complexity and tenderness” (Joshunda Sanders, Time), offering up a vital portrait of the chasms between selfhood and motherhood, the American dream and reality