First published 2023
Yamaye lives for weekends at The Crypt, an underground club outside London where dub reggae pulses through smoke and darkness. The young woman drifts through her days uncertain about her future, but the music speaks to something deep inside her. In the dance hall she discovers pieces of herself, her friendships, and her heritage through the rhythms that move her body and soul. Everything shifts when she meets Moose. He offers her love and the promise of escape from her industrial town existence. She falls hard for him, seeing a path toward freedom she never imagined possible. But their relationship ends in brutal tragedy, cutting short her dreams of a different life. The loss sends Yamaye spinning into a journey that forces her to confront her past and present. As both collide around her, she must navigate the aftermath and find a way to rebuild herself from the wreckage of what she thought her life would become.
Genres: literary-fiction, coming-of-age, contemporary, music
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, intimate
Tropes: coming-of-age, found-family
Setting: London, The Crypt
Period: contemporary
352 pages · Paperback · Jonathan Cape