Black Gold

“With exquisite storytelling and vivid, lush descriptions, Nicole Dennis-Benn’s Black Gold takes readers through Jamaican history, the land and labor coffee growers, the contemporary fashion industry, and the complications of family, romance, and love. Every step of the way is captivating. Faye, also known as Coobah, is a heroine whose vulnerability, beauty, and resilience will capture your heart. Black Gold is stunning. This novel stands in the tradition of Toni Morrison’s Tar Baby and Nella Larsen’s Quicksand, yet Dennis-Benn has a voice that is wholly unique and beautiful.”—Imani Perry, National Book Award–winning author of South to America

“Sexy and entrancing, from one of our finest literary minds comes a story of a young woman whose desires for freedom demand exceptionalism in an industry that thrives on exploitation, asking what does it take for you, and from you, to be ‘the one.’ In this mesmerizing tale, glamour, seduction, and the quest for self-actualization whisk readers from the coffee fields of Jamaica to the sensuous fashion houses of Paris, and beyond. . . . A wholly enthralling read you can’t help but love.”—Jonathan Escoffery, Booker Prize finalist and bestselling author of If I Survive You

“An incredible story of the difficulty and beauty that comes with becoming one’s self . . . In this epic, Dennis-Benn reminds us of the forces that shape our lives and the legacies we leave in our wake.”—Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, New York Times bestselling author of Chain-Gang All-Stars

“Black Gold is a book I’ve been waiting to read all my life. Nicole Dennis-Benn weaves a masterful story of Jamaican women in all their profound beauty and complexity, asking us what is the weight of inheritance, what riches are rooted in family and in our homeland, and what does its legacy ask of us? This book is a necessary addition to the pantheon of Jamaican literature.”—Safiya Sinclair, National Book Critics Circle Award–winning and bestselling author of How to Say Babylon

“A poetic, multilayered tale of a young woman’s quest for agency over her identity, her body, and her family’s ancestral territory . . . Set between the legendary coffee farms of Jamaica’s Blue Mountains and the glittering salons of the international fashion world, Black Gold explores themes of womanhood, ambition, survival, and community.”—Charmaine Wilkerson, New York Times bestselling author of Good Dirt and Black Cake

“Nicole Dennis-Benn writes from a deep place—a place of memory, history, and the unbreakable ties to the land of our ancestors. I will not easily forget the women of Black Gold, especially Faye, whose journey around the world captivated me until the very last page.”—Dolen Perkins-Valdez, New York Times bestselling author of Take My Hand

“Black Gold is a testament to the power of a dream, even one with its own deceptions, and the lengths we must go to in order to maintain our history and families. This is truly a brilliantly crafted narrative of fantasies, realities, and all their blurry in-betweens.”—Leila Mottley, New York Times bestselling author of Nightcrawling

“I could not put this book down, and I will never forget Faye’s quest for agency, liberation, and self-possession.”—Qian Julie Wang, New York Times bestselling author of Beautiful Country