Fire Rush (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780593300534)

FINALIST FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE

A NEW YORKER BEST BOOK OF 2023

"[A] powerful debut." --The Washington Post

"An exceptional and stunningly original novel by a major new writer." --Bernardine Evaristo, Booker Prize-winning author of Girl, Woman, Other

Set amid the Jamaican diaspora in London at the dawn of 1980s, a mesmerizing story of love, loss, and self-discovery that vibrates with the liberating power of music

Yamaye lives for the weekend, when she goes raving with her friends, the "Tombstone Estate gyals," at The Crypt, an underground dub reggae club in their industrial town on the outskirts of London. Raised by her distant father after her mother's disappearance when she was a girl, Yamaye craves the oblivion of sound - a chance to escape into the rhythms of those smoke-filled nights, to discover who she really is in the dance-hall darkness.

When Yamaye meets Moose, a soulful carpenter who shares her Jamaican heritage, a path toward a different kind of future seems to open. But then, Babylon rushes in. In a devastating cascade of violence that pits state power against her loved ones and her community, Yamaye loses everything. Friendless and adrift, she embarks on a dramatic journey of transformation that takes her to the Bristol underworld and, finally, to Jamaica, where past and present collide with explosive consequences.

The unforgettable story of one young woman's search for home, animated by a ferocity of vision, electrifying music, and the Jamaican spiritual imagination, Fire Rush is a blazing achievement from a brilliant voice in contemporary fiction.

Author: Jacqueline Crooks
ISBN-10: 059330053X
ISBN-13: 9780593300534
Publisher: Viking
Language: English
Published: 04/18/2023
Pages: 352
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.00lbs
Size: 8.30h x 5.80w x 1.50d

Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 02/27/2023
Booklist 03/01/2023 pg. 23
Kirkus Reviews 03/15/2023