Queenie (novel)
{{Short description|2019 new adult novel by Candice Carty-Williams}}
{{About|the Candice Carty-Williams novel|other novels|Queenie (disambiguation){{!}}Queenie}}
{{use dmy dates|date=August 2024}}
{{Infobox book
| name = Queenie
| image = File:Queenie (novel).jpg
| caption = First edition
| author = Candice Carty-Williams
| country = United Kingdom
| language = English
| genre = New adult fiction
| publisher = Orion
| isbn = 9781501196010
| cover_artist =
| pub_date = 19 March 2019
| media_type = Print (hardcover and paperback), audiobook, e-book
| pages = 330 (hardcover)
}}
Queenie is a new adult novel written by British author Candice Carty-Williams and published by Trapeze, an imprint of Orion, in 2019. The novel is about the life and loves of Queenie Jenkins, a vibrant, troubled 25-year-old British-Jamaican woman who is not having a very good year.{{cite web |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/candice-carty-williams/queenie-carty-williams/|title=Queenie |date=12 November 2018 |website=Kirkus Reviews }} In 2023, Channel 4 announced that Queenie had been made into a television drama, created and executive produced by Carty-Williams which aired in June 2024.
Background
In 2017 Queenie was the subject of an auction between four publishers and was eventually acquired for a six-figure sum by Orion.{{cite web |url=https://www.thebookseller.com/news/orion-acquires-candice-carty-williams-debut-queenie-644971|title=Carty-Williams' debut Queenie lands six-figure deal|last=Cowdrey |first=Katherine |date=29 September 2017 |website=The Bookseller }} Although it was marketed as "a black Bridget Jones",{{cite magazine |url=https://time.com/5554283/queenie-candice-carty-williams/|title=Don't Call Queenie a 'Black Bridget Jones.' This Book Is So Much More|last=Hirsch |first=Afua |date=19 March 2019 |magazine=Time }}{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/apr/12/queenie-candice-carty-williams-review|title=Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams review – timely and important|last=Evans |first=Diana |date=12 April 2020 |website=The Guardian }}{{cite web |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/books/candice-cartywilliams-interview-a4125761.html|title=Candice Carty-Williams: it's high time black women had a voice|last=Butter |first=Susannah |date=25 April 2019 |website=Evening Standard }} Carty-Williams herself said in an interview in Stylist magazine: "That's how I thought of her in the beginning, too. But this book is also naturally political just because of who Queenie is. She's not Bridget Jones. She could never be."{{cite web |url= https://www.stylist.co.uk/books/candice-carty-williams-queenie-representation-sex/259605|title=Candice Carty Williams explains why Queenie will never be a 'black Bridget Jones'|last=Keegan |first=Hannah |date=3 April 2019 |work=Stylist }} Speaking on CBS Local, Carty-Williams further explained: "It's such a personal story, but it is one that is universal as well....It's not autobiographical, but it’s themes that I've borrowed from my life and my friends' lives."{{cite web|url=https://newyork.cbslocal.com/2019/11/25/candice-carty-williams-queenie/ |title='Getting This Out Was Catharsis': Author Candice Carty-Williams On Book 'Queenie'|publisher= CBS Local|date= 25 November 2019}}
Reception
Queenie received much positive critical attention,Lloyd, Rachel (17 May 2019), [https://www.1843magazine.com/culture/cheats-guide/all-you-need-to-know-about-queenie-by-candice-cartywilliams "All you need to know about “Queenie” by Candice Carty-Williams"], 1843.{{Cite web |title=Book Marks reviews of Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams |url=https://bookmarks.reviews/reviews/queenie// |access-date=January 16, 2024 |website=Book Marks |language=en-US}} described by reviewers as both a "smart and breezy comic debut"{{cite news|last=Cummins|first= Anthony |date=16 April 2019|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/apr/16/queenie-candice-carty-williams-review |title=Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams review – a smart and breezy debut|newspaper=The Observer}} and "astutely political, an essential commentary on everyday racism"{{cite news|last=Malicka|first= Philly|date=17 July 2019|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/what-to-read/queenie-candice-carty-williams-review-essential-commentary-everyday/ |title=Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams, review: 'An essential commentary on everyday racism' |newspaper=The Telegraph}} According to Book Marks, the book received a "positive" consensus, based on fourteen critic reviews: five being "rave" and eight being "positive" and two being "mixed".{{Cite web |title=Queenie
|url=https://bookmarks.reviews/reviews/queenie/ |access-date=16 January 2024 |website=Book Marks}} In Books in the Media, the book received 4.46 out of 5 stars, which was based on ten critic reviews.{{Cite web |title=Queenie Reviews|url=https://booksinthemedia.thebookseller.com/reviews/queenie|access-date=11 July 2024 |website=Books in the Media|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210919212002/https://booksinthemedia.thebookseller.com/reviews/queenie|archive-date=19 Sep 2021}}
According to Diana Evans, Queenie is an "important political tome of black womanhood and black British life, a rare perspective from the margins", and Afua Hirsch wrote in Time magazine: "Carty-Williams has taken a black woman’s story and made it a story of the age". On the paperback publication of Queenie in February 2020, Kate Saunders wrote in The Times: "This is a funny, clever, heartbreaking lightning bolt of a first novel, by a writer bristling with talent."Saunders, Kate (8 February 2020), [https://www.thetimes.com/culture/books/article/our-pick-of-the-latest-paperbacks-february-8-2020-txvl873sg "Our pick of the latest paperbacks, February 8, 2020"], The Times.
As of 2021, according to Nielsen BookScan UK, the novel has sold 153,439 copies; 34,936 copies in hardback and 115,317 copies in paperback.{{cite web |url=https://www.thebookseller.com/news/knights-herald-candice-carty-williams-debut-ya-novella-1248726 |title=Knights Of to publish YA novella from Candice Carty-Williams |last=Comerford |first=Ruth |date=16 March 2021 |work=The Bookseller |access-date=28 March 2021}} Queenie entered the Sunday Times Bestseller hardback chart at number two,{{cite web |url=https://www.thebookseller.com/news/carty-williams-leaves-vintage-1022341|title= Candice Carty-Williams leaves Vintage|last= Wood|first=Heloise|date=13 June 2019 |website=The Bookseller}} went on to win the Blackwell's Debut Book of the Year 2019 award{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2R3weQ8RAI8|title= WINNER Debut Author of the Year|date= 8 November 2019|website=YouTube |publisher=Blackwell's Bookshops|access-date=12 January 2020 }} and was shortlisted as Book of the Year by Waterstones,{{cite web |url=https://inews.co.uk/news/queenie-candice-carty-williams-black-bridget-jones-waterstones-book-of-the-year-2019-822225|title=Queenie: 'Black Bridget Jones' competes with Margaret Atwood for Waterstones Book of the Year 2019|last=Sherwin |first=Adam |date=30 October 2019 |website=i}} Foyles and Goodreads,{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/gnm-press-office/2020/jan/07/candice-carty-williams-to-become-the-guardians-new-books-columnist|title=Candice Carty-Williams to become the Guardian's new books columnist|last=GNM Press Office |date=7 January 2020 |website=The Guardian }} as well as being runner-up for the Costa First Novel Award.{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/nov/26/debut-author-of-queenie-caps-success-with-costa-prize-shortlisting|title=Debut author of Queenie caps success with Costa prize shortlisting|last= Flood|first=Alison |date= 26 November 2019|website=The Guardian }}{{cite web |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/books/costa-book-awards-shortlist-2019-a4297681.html|title=The Costa Book Awards shortlist for 2019 has been announced|last=Hampson |first=Laura |date=27 November 2019 |website= Evening Standard}}{{cite web |url=https://www.bustle.com/p/debut-writers-win-big-in-2019-costa-book-award-19772412|title=Debut Writers Win Big In 2019 Costa Book Award|last=Broster |first=Alice |date=7 January 2020 }} At the British Book Awards in June 2020 Queenie won the Book of the Year category,{{cite web|url=https://www.thebookseller.com/british-book-awards/history|title=The British Book Awards – A History|work=The Bookseller}} while Bernardine Evaristo was chosen as Author of the Year, making them the first black authors to win the top prizes.{{Cite web|last=Flood|first=Alison|date=2020-06-30|title=Evaristo and Carty-Williams become first black authors to win top British Book awards|url=http://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/jun/29/candice-carty-williams-bernardine-evaristo-first-black-authors-to-win-top-british-book-awards|website=The Guardian|language=en}} Carty-Williams commented that while she was proud to have won the accolade, "I'm also sad and confused that I'm the first black AND female author to have won this award since it began."{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-53218235|title=Queenie author Candice Carty-Williams wins British Book Award|publisher=BBC News|date=30 June 2020}} She also stated: "Overall, this win makes me hopeful that although I'm the first, the industry are waking up to the fact that I shouldn't and won't be the last."{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/british-book-awards-winners-candice-carty-williams-bernardine-evaristo-oyinkan-braithwaite-a9592461.html|title=British Book Awards: Candice Carty-Williams becomes first black British author to win Book of the Year prize|work=The Independent|first=Adam|last=White|date=30 June 2020}} Queenie was selected for the longlist for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2020.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/mar/03/womens-prize-for-fiction-lines-up-heavy-hitters-on-2020-longlist|title=Women's prize for fiction lines up 'heavy hitters' on 2020 longlist|first=Alison|last=Flood|newspaper=The Guardian|date=3 March 2020}} In September 2020 the novel was runner-up in the Comedy Women in Print Prize (CWIP).{{cite news|url= https://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/books/comedy-women-in-print-prize-2020-winners-a4547581.html|title=Comedy Women in Print Prize 2020 winners announced|first=Rosie|last=Fitzmaurice|newspaper=Evening Standard|date=14 September 2020}}{{cite journal|url=https://www.thebookseller.com/news/stibbe-jones-and-simmonds-named-among-cwip-winners-1219096|title=Stibbe, Jones and Simmonds named CWIP winners|author=Katherine Cowdrey|journal=The Bookseller|date=14 September 2020}}
Some writers have pointed out that the novel contains antisemitic tropes.{{cite web |title=Victoria Beckham, Bella Hadid and Jewish ‘princesses’ |url=https://www.thejc.com/lets-talk/victoria-beckham-bella-hadid-and-jewish-princesses-nicole-lamperts-week-in-showbiz-brk3x130 |publisher=Jewish Chronicle}}{{cite web |title=Book Review: Queenie |url=https://www.lucydanser.co.uk/blog/book-review-queenie |publisher=Lucy Danser}}{{cite web |title=To be an ally against racism, first learn to listen |url=https://www.thejc.com/lets-talk/to-be-an-ally-against-racism-rst-learn-to-listen-x0pkh2zh |publisher=Keren David |access-date=21 December 2024}}
Adaptation
{{Main|Queenie (TV series)}}
A TV adaptation of Queenie was announced in 2019 as being in development for Channel 4,{{cite web |url=https://www.bustle.com/p/what-you-need-to-know-about-candice-carty-williams-queenie-being-adapted-for-channel-4-19358475 |title=What You Need To Know About Candice Carty-Williams' 'Queenie' Being Adapted For Channel 4 |last=Broster |first=Alice |date=18 November 2019 |work=Bustle |access-date=18 November 2019}} with Carty-Williams as the screenwriter.{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/sep/05/i-wont-let-covid-19-infect-my-television-adaptation-of-queenie |title=I won't let Covid-19 infect my television adaptation of Queenie |last=Carty-Williams |first=Candice |date=5 September 2020 |work=The Guardian |access-date=5 September 2020}} In August 2021, it was reported that the channel had commissioned an eight-episode drama series, with production starting in 2022.{{cite magazine|url=https://www.thebookseller.com/news/channel-4-commissions-candice-carty-williams-create-queenie-drama-series-1277851|title=Carty-Williams to create Queenie drama series for Channel 4|magazine=The Bookseller|date=24 August 2021|first=Sian|last=Bayley|access-date=25 August 2021}} Dionne Brown will take the lead role, and the series will air in June 2024 in the UK.