Carty-Williams Returns With 'Queenie Is Working on It'
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- Candice Carty-Williams publishes 'Queenie Is Working on It,' a sequel to her 2019 debut 'Queenie,' picking up protagonist Queenie Jenkins's story eight years on when she is 33
- Queenie now works at a Black-owned social media platform and goes undercover to a fertility clinic to research Black women's experiences of IVF treatment
- Queenie receives test results indicating low chances of natural pregnancy, which the review says forces her to confront her chaotic love life
- Kyazike, Queenie's friend, is a standout supporting character who nicknames a non-committal paramour 'TfL' on the grounds they 'don't deserve government names' and warns that 'fucking a PT is never smart. That's community dick, sister'
- The novel frames Queenie's sexual encounters as 'vain attempts to secure an emotional connection,' with Carty-Williams writing sex scenes that are 'pragmatic and technical rather than titillating'
- The sequel raises fertility-education questions on behalf of a generation of women, including the line 'Why was I having to find out the basics of conception at a hen party when I was 33?'
- Carty-Williams threads race through ordinary moments — Queenie lies to partners about contraception hoping to conceive, prompting Kyazike to object that 'bringing a Black baby into the world to be intentionally raised by a single parent feels wrong, sis'
Why it matters: The reviewer finds the sequel both a continuation of the qualities that made 'Queenie' a 2019 breakout — its ear for female friendship and unsentimental treatment of Black British womanhood — and a test of readers' patience with Queenie's continued misadventures, suggesting the book succeeds on character and voice more than on narrative momentum.
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