I couldn’t put this Jamaican fantasy novel down!

Brown Girl in the Ring tells the story of Ti-Jeanne, a new mother who must learn how to welcome and lean into her ancestral Caribbean abilities while living in dystopian Toronto. It was an unexpected story that manages to pack a rich narrative into less than 250 pages. Every moment of it felt intentional, beautifully showcasing Hopkinson’s masterful storytelling.

Some quick notes of the things I loved:
• This was written for Caribbean people. We are the intended audience. The patois is beautiful.
• The characters aren’t without their flaws, which makes me drawn to them even more.
• The villain is genuinely terrifying and times, I genuinely felt scared reading it. I couldn’t sleep, nor could I imagine how some of the plot lines would be resolved.
• It shows the complexities in families, desire, and memory.
• The Caribbean/African folklore was outstanding! The imagery visceral and the sounds captivating.
• It’s a story that celebrates women and matriarchal families, but also explores the harm that men inflict upon women as well as generational trauma.
• There’s fully fledged character development that doesn’t feel rushed, nor does it leave me feeling confused.

This will go down as one of my faves and I can’t believe it was on my shelf for so long before I picked it up!