WINNER OF THEPEN/OPEN BOOK AWARD
FINALIST FOR THE WOMEN’S PRIZE
ANEW YORKERBEST BOOK OF 2023

[A] powerful debut.The Washington Post

An exceptional and stunningly original novel by a major new writer. Bernardine Evaristo, Booker Prize-winning author ofGirl, Woman, Other

Set amid the Jamaican diaspora in London at the dawn of 1980s, a mesmerizing story of love, loss, and self-discovery that vibrates with the liberating power of music

Yamaye lives for the weekend, when she goes raving with her friends, the Tombstone Estate gyals, at The Crypt, an underground dub reggae club in their industrial town on the outskirts of London. Raised by her distant father after her mothers disappearance when she was a girl, Yamaye craves the oblivion of sound – a chance to escape into the rhythms of those smoke-filled nights, to discover who she really is in the dance-hall darkness.

When Yamaye meets Moose, a soulful carpenter who shares her Jamaican heritage, a path toward a different kind of future seems to open. But then, Babylon rushes in. In a devastating cascade of violence that pits state power against her loved ones and her community, Yamaye loses everything. Friendless and adrift, she embarks on a dramatic journey of transformation that takes her to the Bristol underworld and, finally, to Jamaica, where past and present collide with explosive consequences.

The unforgettable story of one young womans search for home, animated by a ferocity of vision, electrifying music, and the Jamaican spiritual imagination,Fire Rushis a blazing achievement from a brilliant voice in contemporary fiction.