Here Comes the Sun: A Novel (Paperback)

Here Comes the Sun: A Novel By Nicole Dennis-Benn Cover Image
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Description


A New York Times Notable Book of the Year

Winner of the LAMBDA Literary Award for Lesbian Fiction

Named a Best Book of 2016 by NPR, Entertainment Weekly, Buzzfeed, Bustle, San Francisco Chronicle, The Root, BookRiot, Kirkus Reviews, NYLON, Amazon, WBUR's "On Point", the Barnes & Noble Review, and Amazon (Fiction & Literature)

Finalist for the NYPL Young Lions Fiction Award and the Center for Fiction's First Novel Prize

Selected for the Grand Prix Litteraire of the Association of Caribbean Writers

Longlisted for the ALA Over the Rainbow Award

Longlisted for the Dublin Literary Award


In this radiant, highly anticipated debut, a cast of unforgettable women battle for independence while a maelstrom of change threatens their Jamaican village.


Capturing the distinct rhythms of Jamaican life and dialect, Nicole Dennis- Benn pens a tender hymn to a world hidden among pristine beaches and the wide expanse of turquoise seas. At an opulent resort in Montego Bay, Margot hustles to send her younger sister, Thandi, to school. Taught as a girl to trade her sexuality for survival, Margot is ruthlessly determined to shield Thandi from the same fate. When plans for a new hotel threaten their village, Margot sees not only an opportunity for her own financial independence but also perhaps a chance to admit a shocking secret: her forbidden love for another woman. As they face the impending destruction of their community, each woman—fighting to balance the burdens she shoulders with the freedom she craves—must confront long-hidden scars. From a much-heralded new writer, Here Comes the Sun offers a dramatic glimpse into a vibrant, passionate world most outsiders see simply as paradise.

About the Author


Nicole Dennis-Benn is the author of Here Comes the Sun, a New York Times Notable Book and winner of the Lambda Literary Award. Born and raised in Kingston, Jamaica, she teaches at Princeton and lives with her wife in Brooklyn, New York.

Praise For…


[A] lithe, artfully-plotted debut.... Margot is one of the reasons to read this book. She is a startling, deeply memorable character. All of Ms. Dennis-Benn’s women are. The author has a gift for creating chiaroscuro portraits, capturing both light and dark.... Here Comes the Sun is deceptively well-constructed, with slow and painful reveals right through the end.

— Jennifer Senior - The New York Times

One of the most stunningly beautiful novels in recent years... it feels like a miracle.
— Michael Schaub - NPR.org

Impossible to forget.... Dennis-Benn’s writing is as lush as the island itself.... [She] knows how to make the women so complex that we believe every hairpin turn of her plot.
— Caroline Leavitt - The Boston Globe

The book vividly captures the fraught dynamics of familial and romantic relationships... Poignant.
— The New Yorker

Similarities to fellow Caribbean writer Edwidge Danticat, or early V.S. Naipaul, are plentiful... [A] rich, accomplished novel.
— Kenneth Champeon - BookPage

Here are visceral, profound writing and invigorating characters. Here, too, is the deep and specific sensation of experience… Haunting and superbly crafted, this is a magical book from a writer of immense talent and intelligence.
— Kirkus Reviews [Starred Review]

With eloquent prose and unsentimental clarity, Dennis-Benn offers an excellent reason to look beyond the surface beauty of paradise. This novel is as bracing as a cold shower on a hot day.
— Connie Olge - The Miami Herald

[A] striking portrayal of a vibrant community where everyone is related and every action reverberates, and [an] unstinting description of how shame whips desire into submission.
— Publishers Weekly

Her prose is lyrical and vibrant, but
Dennis-Benn has a deeper purpose, and she takes the reader on a trip that
is impossible to forget.
— Molly McArdle - Brooklyn Magazine

Stuns at every turn.
— Marlon James, author of A Brief History of Seven Killings

A moving portrait of a Jamaican family and community
wrestling with the great questions in life - how to live and love freely in a
world filled with obstacles to both. Nicole Dennis-Benn's exploration of
Caribbean women's desires for themselves and each other is an important
contribution to our literature.
— Naomi Jackson, author of The Star Side of Bird Hill

Here Comes the Sun is every bit as dazzling as its title suggests. Nicole Dennis-Benn draws us so deeply into the fates of her unforgettable characters that we can’t help but dream, suffer, celebrate, and grieve alongside them. Each page of this terrific debut vibrates with power, heart, and unflinching honesty—I couldn’t put it down, yet didn’t want it to end.

— Mia Alvar, author of In the Country

An indelible portrait of a woman in motion. Nicole Dennis-Benn has created in Margot a fierce and fearless striver. A fantastic debut.
— Laila Lalami, author of the Pulitzer Prize finalist The Moor's Account

In Here Comes The Sun, Nicole Dennis-Benn boldly takes on the emotional and psycho-social effects of colorism and classism, among other topics. Here is a story of love and betrayal within the parameters of friendships and families in one Jamaican community. Most prominently, we follow the struggles of Margot, Delores, Thandi, and Verdene as they embark on their journey toward self-fulfillment. Nicole Dennis-Benn has written a book that is full of culture and crackling with life.

— Chinelo Okparanta, author of Under the Udala Trees


Product Details
ISBN: 9781631492945
ISBN-10: 1631492942
Publisher: Liveright
Publication Date: June 6th, 2017
Pages: 352
Language: English