Queenie Audiobook By Candice Carty-Williams cover art

Queenie

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Queenie

By: Candice Carty-Williams
Narrated by: Shvorne Marks
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One of Time’s 100 Best Books of the Year

One of NPR’s Best Books of 2019

Named One of the Most Anticipated Books of 2019 by Woman’s Day, Newsday, Publishers Weekly, Bustle, and Book Riot!

“[B]rilliant, timely, funny, heartbreaking.” (Jojo Moyes, number one New York Times best-selling author of Me Before You)

For fans of Luster and I May Destroy You, a disarmingly honest, unapologetically Black, and undeniably witty debut novel that will speak to those who have gone looking for love and found something very different in its place.

Queenie Jenkins is a 25-year-old Jamaican British woman living in London, straddling two cultures and slotting neatly into neither. She works at a national newspaper, where she’s constantly forced to compare herself to her White middle-class peers. After a messy breakup from her White long-term boyfriend, Queenie seeks comfort in all the wrong places...including several hazardous men who do a good job of occupying brain space and a bad job of affirming self-worth.

As Queenie careens from one questionable decision to another, she finds herself wondering, “What are you doing? Why are you doing it? Who do you want to be?” - all of the questions today’s woman must face in a world trying to answer them for her.

With “fresh and honest” (Jojo Moyes) prose, Queenie is a remarkably relatable exploration of what it means to be a modern woman searching for meaning in today’s world.

©2019 Candice Carty-Williams (P)2019 Simon & Schuster African American Caribbean Creators Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Women's Fiction Funny Witty

Interview: Listen in as Carty-Williams shares why her funny, buzzy debut novel, Queenie, hits on the importance of female friendships, mental health, learning people’s given names, and staying out of their hair. Literally.

Queenie
Shvorne just captured [Queenie's] really layered way of looking at the world...
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  • Queenie
  • Shvorne just captured [Queenie's] really layered way of looking at the world...

Featured Article: The Best Black Audiobook Narrators to Listen to Right Now


A skilled performer has the ability to take the written word to new heights, infusing an author’s work with empathy, warmth, and excitement. And representation matters just as much for audio as it does for any visual medium: listeners should feel and hear themselves in art driven by powerful performers and authentic deliveries. We’ve gathered a few of the best Black audiobook narrators in the business and their can't-miss performances.

Featured Article The Best Black Audiobook Narrators to Listen to Right Now

Editor's Pick

Modern-day adulting
"Candice Carty-Williams’s Queenie is the epitome of that refreshing new voice reviewers love to rave about. And rave I will. Her title character, a 25-year-old Jamaican British woman in London at the tail end of a longterm relationship, is a bit of a hot mess—but a hot mess in which we can all recognize parts of ourselves. Her motley crew of girlfriends, whom she calls the Corgis, all shore her up in different ways as she navigates the landmines of her life, from racial/cultural expectations to the emotional trauma of her youth. Actress Shvorne Marks brings Queenie’s world to life with an accessible range of British accents, while highlighting the soul searching for peace that belies the breeziness with which Queenie tries to meet the world, and eventually finds that her path forward isn’t based on anyone but herself." —Abby W., Audible Editor

Relatable Protagonist • Authentic Representation • Stellar Narration • Powerful Storytelling • Cultural Relevance
Highly rated for:
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Where do i begin with this one?
Queenie, Queenie, Queenie. She sort of reminded me of myself when i was younger. Not the promiscuous parts but the "not having your shit together parts".
I LOLed several times. I enjoyed this audiobook. There were a few shock factor moments but all in all it was a good book. Don't listen with children around though. I was listening while in a fast food drive thru with my window down and had to turn it off until i was able to close my window back.
Reminded me of a Jamaican Bridgette Jones maybe?
The narrator was perfect.
I do recommend it for a little mindless chic-lit.

Don't touch her hair !!!!

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Someone wrote my in another review that this book is the perfect marriage between “The Bridget Jones Diary” and “Americanah” (both favorites) and I couldn’t agree more.

I thought I’d be bored because I am well beyond the age of the protagonist but I was thankfully wrong! I identified with the experiences, mistakes and feeling of both my younger and present self. I most appreciated the candor and wit that enfolded within the story.

I liked the main character and hated some others which is a good sign-in my reading experience, apathy towards characters equates to poor story telling, character development, etc and usually results in immediate dismissal of a book.

The ending mimicked real life in that all problems cannot be solved just because the book ends. Progress not perfection...

Good from start to finish.

MUST READ-Humorous and insightful

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Was not the best for a mother daughter book club, the description needs updating. Very mature situations!

not Bridget Jones Diary

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Great story about learning from our mistakes and realizing it sometimes takes a village to make a positive change for yourself. I love the support that Queenie get from her besties!

Really poignant message about being objectified

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loved the vivid story telling and attempt at complex grappling with issues of race, family, career, and love.

vivid, dramatic, funny, and real

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I loved this book! I pictured every scene as if it were a movie and immediately wanted more from this author. Hopefully someone will take notice and make this a show or movie because the story was great, and funny as hell! This is only 1 out of a few books that actually made me LOL

Poignant and funny!

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I loved this book, so many recognizable situations to my life and friends, definitely sharing

it about us 👊🏾

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Loved Queenie as a character and the book overall! It reminds me that we each have struggles daily but how we react to the circumstances determines our growth. Just take each day one at a time!

mSelf love conquers all!

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This book. First half broke my heart, not in the traditional way. Enough that I had to talk about it with my grown son and husband at lunch one day. I know a protagonist must sabotage but why was Queenie so hell bent on such passive self destruction? Why was her head bowed on the book cover?

My husband reminded me what I knew, of the plight of the young black woman, of the weight she carries, of what is fact about the way men treat her without regard for her person. (As lawyers we are both more aware, and his job in particular makes him see these facts almost daily). The book, however hard to digest, was absolutely factual and on point.

I read on and that night I turned a page that made it all click. Oh. Duh. OH.

In the end, Queenie’s predicament was expertly handled and explained. The anxiety that she and countless numbers of her generation experience (and how counseling can help) was portrayed in a way that I could really understand. Also a great explanation of what #blacklivesmatter means and what it doesn’t mean. So glad for this book.

Why is Queenie’s Head Bowed?

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This book was compared to “Bridget Jones,” but it was so much more. Yes, there’s plenty of comical witticisms and funny situations, but it gets deep too. Really explores the themes of mental health and intersectional feminism. Overall, I thought it was a beautiful testament to the power of love from friends and family. They play the major role in Queenie’s life, not sidenotes like in B.J. I really love that she didn’t end up with a man, but instead ended up gaining some self-love.

I thought Shvorne Marks was a fantastic narrator! Each accent was so unique and distinct and really brought a little something extra to the character.

At times, specifically in the beginning of the story, it was hard for me to understand what exactly was happening when Marks was narrating the text threads or the emails or the Tom flashbacks. I’m assuming that it is more clear when you have the actual book in front of you and you can see the difference on the page. But it wasn’t a hindrance to my enjoyment of the book. It didn’t take long for me to figure it out and then I didn’t mind.

Bridget Jones but so much more!

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