Episode 21 --- Nicole Dennis-Benn
Getting to sit down with Nicole Dennis-Benn was one of the highlights for me during last year's Miami Book Fair. She was engaging and fascinating and full of passion about her storytelling.
We discussed her critically acclaimed debut novel, Here Comes the Sun, which was published last summer.
The novel tells the story of a mother and her two daughters who are living in Jamaica in the mid 90s. Delores sells souvenirs to tourists. Her oldest daughter, Margot, works in a hotel officially as a desk clerk. But after hours she works a prostitute for the hotel's wealthy patrons to help support her younger sister, Thandi, who is a student at an expensive Catholic high school. She's seen as the family's hope to escape poverty. Margot also hopes to make enough money to support a life with Verdene, he woman she loves, despite rampant homophobia in her neighborhood in River Bank.
Interview Highlights:
Nicole reveals...
- why she wanted to show the Jamaica that tourists rarely see
- the meaning of the book's title (no, it has nothing to do with the Beatles)
- why she calls Margot a feminist and the book's heroine
Click here to listen to the podcast.
We have a free, signed copy of Here Comes the Sun to give away. It will go to the first listener to tell the two locations where Nicole said her next novel will take place. You can contact us through Facebook or Twitter (@ReadMorePodcast) to provide the answer.
If you have won a ReadMore giveaway in the last 90 days, you're ineligible for this contest. Also, if you and I were ever rode an activity bus together to visit any museum in Raleigh, you're probably ineligible. ReadMore does not have a friends and family plan! But we'll always have the memories of the old, haunted Clayton Elementary.
You can also support ReadMore when you buy this book from Amazon.com using the link below:
UPDATE: On January 13, Sarah K. Stephens provided us with the correct answer on Twitter and won the free, signed copy of Nicole Dennis-Benn's novel, Here Comes the Sun. Thanks for listening, Sarah.