Songs of Irie

September 15, 2023
The politically charged story of two girlfriends in 1970s Jamaica. Despite wholly dissimilar home lives, Irie Rivers and Jillian Casey are music-loving best friends at an elite Jamaican high school. A controversial scholarship from the new progressive government is the only way brown-skinned Irie from the Kingston slums can afford her education. Lighter-skinned Jilly's wealth and privilege come from her father's position in the conservative opposition party. But as the girls graduate and struggle with growing political tensions that influence their diverging paths, they also experience the complications and tensions of budding desires. Irie's father is a record shop owner at the center of reggae's rise as a voice for a generation of poor Black radicals opposing the status quo that Jilly's father upholds from the hills, where affluence goes hand in hand with elitism and anti-Blackness. Irie is becoming an impressive reggae singer in her own right, taking Jilly on risky, exciting late-night dance hall excursions. While politically motivated gang violence takes the lives of many in Irie's community, by the time sheltered Jilly discovers her own father's degree of responsibility for the death and suffering, personal and political issues may prove to be too much for the teens' relationship to overcome. Tragedy strikes in the buildup to a key election, as Jamaican history, provocative lyricism, and relatable characters form an effective foundation for this bittersweet queer love story. A richly intimate novel of rebellion, romance, and reggae. (author's note) (Historical fiction. 13-18)

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Starred review from October 9, 2023
In 1976 Jamaica, a forthcoming election between an egalitarian platform and a capitalist agenda sows civil unrest. Light-skinned teen Jilly, from the upper echelon of Jamaican society, reckons with a lack of agency when her parents arrange her marriage to the capitalist party leader’s son. Jilly’s best friend, dark-skinned Irie—a reggae songwriter with a knockout voice living in the “not-so-nice parts” of the island—forfeits her dreams to work alongside her family at their record shop. After a friend is murdered, Irie determines to follow her desires and accepts a performance gig at a dancehall party with Jilly in attendance. But a violent encounter with egalitarian soldiers and her family’s disappearance throw Irie’s life into further chaos; meanwhile, Jilly wrestles with her parents’ involvement in the brewing oppression. While Jilly’s development can sometimes feel low stakes in comparison to Irie’s clear-sighted observations, their juxtaposition prompts compelling conversations surrounding class privilege, and their slow-burn romance heightens tensions. Bromfield (Hurricane Summer) depicts a harsh reality around predation of young women in Jamaica to craft a devastating and nuanced look at two teens’ battle for freedom, hope, independence, and love. An author’s note provides context about civil unrest in Jamaica. Ages 13–up. Agent: Emily Van Beek, Folio Literary.

Starred review from September 15, 2023
Grades 10-12 Jamaica, summer 1976. In Bromfield's (Hurricane Summer, 2021) dramatic, deeply sensual second novel, two friends struggle to stay connected after high school while an approaching election threatens to explode into civil war around them. Irie lives in the ghetto, where her Rastafarian father's record store is known for promoting reggae. She writes and sings her own songs, dreaming of making it big. Caste and wealth have elevated Jillian's lighter-skinned family high above Kingston's shantytowns. But Jilly is ambivalent about her arranged marriage into a political dynasty and attending Cambridge--because of her attraction to Irie. Their lives intersect and repel again and again once they act on their desire for each other, in a country where their love is a crime. After readers absorb the early infodumps and adjust to the heavy patois (a particularly effective element of the setting), they will be swept up into the intensity of life on the island, the shock of escalating and unpredictable violence, and the emotional clashes between personal freedom, family legacy, and survival that propel this tense, suspenseful novel.

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