There was rather a lot of sexual content and I am not sure how that would sit with some audience. What I will say is that it was never out of context and was essential to the story of Queenie.
It was a novel totally driven by one character, Queenie. Queenie was 26, had a job on a newspaper and contemplating a break from her boyfriend Tom. The most important thing about Queenie was that she was black and the novel explored what it was to be young, black and living in modern day London.
I can’t say that it made for fun reading, in places it was harrowing as you watched on helplessly
As Queenie pushed her self destruct button. Why did she push that button was one of the many questions Carty-Williams asked. Was it her continual fight back at the inequality she faced in her personal and worklife? What about the treatment she endured from the many men she encountered, using her as a plaything, open season from them to do and say whatever they wanted to her? Did she bring it all on herself? For me it was a combination, yet I wanted her to fight back , I wanted people to listen to her, to treat her with respect.
Her friends, the Corgis were brilliant, their WhatsApp group full of brilliant dialogue that lifted the novel from the total doom and gloom that I could so easily have been.
Her grandparents were funny, set in their ways and their history perhaps hinted at Queenie’s present difficulties.
Carty-Williams maintained a wonderful balance, never preaching to us the reader but using Queenie to portray the life of a young black woman, that at times tugged strongly at your heartstrings, that made you angry but also filled you with a huge sense of frustration.
Carty-Williams let us make up our own minds, made us think and that is one of the reasons I liked this novel so much.
The other reason was Queenie, just a brilliantly realised character, who will live long in my mind and my heart.

Despite being a 54 year old white woman living in rural England I absolutely LOVED Queenie..Candice Carty-Williams worked her way into my heart and I was championing Queenie from the start. I could relate to her story and to her life.
The book is sensitive, clever, quirky (I loved the use of the message group with her friends 'the Corgi's.) and it enabled me to see into the heart of this damaged but strong young woman.
I highly recommend this book. It has set the bar very high for my Best Books of 2019 list..
Thank you so much for the opportunity to read an early copy #NetGalley and Orion Publishing. #BlackLivesMatter

Oh my god, i cannot praise this book enough, I loved it and devoured it within 24hours. I was glued to it on my commutes, my lunch break and sitting in the dark putting the preschooler to bed (thank you kindle!)

If you're a feminist - and even if you're not - if you read one book in 2019 you need to make it this book.

Queenie isn't having much luck. She's on a break from her boyfriend and her boss can't seem to see her and her family just don't get it.

From the opening lines Queenie gets straight into your heart and your head. The treatment she receives at the hands of employers, medical staff and her boyfriend's family is disgusting. But her friends - the Corgis - keep her going through it all.

I don't really have the words to explain why I loved this book so much, why it was shamefully eye-opening for me as a white woman and how I won't forget Queenie. But all I can see is read it and you'll love it too.