Patsy: Nicole Dennis-Benn with Glory Edim

Leaving family and Jamaica behind in search of love and belonging in Brooklyn. 

When Patsy gets her long-coveted visa to the U.S., it’s after years of yearning to be reunited with Cicely, her oldest friend and secret love who left for the “land of opportunity” long before. Patsy leaves behind her religious mother and her young daughter, Tru, in a bittersweet surge of sadness and relief. But Brooklyn is not exactly how Cicely described in her letters, and Patsy can only find menial work as a bathroom attendant and nanny. All the while Tru struggles with what it means to be abandoned by her mother and questions about her own identity and sexuality. 

Nicole Dennis-Benn, author Here Comes the Sun, is a winner of a Lambda Literary Award and a finalist for the Young Lions Fiction Award. Glory Edim, creator of the Well-Read Black Girl anthology and WRBG book club, joins her to discuss how the book came to be.

Mid-Sentence presents a series of conversations with groundbreaking literary voices. Indie authors and cult favorites explore the intersections between literature and lived experience.

ASL interpretation and real-time (CART) captioning available upon request. Please submit your request at least two weeks in advance by emailing accessibility@nypl.org.