For fans of Queenie, there is reason to rejoice with her follow-up novel, Queenie Is Working On It. She is still a Jamaican-British woman from South London pursuing a career as a writer and journalist. She is still looking for love in all the wrong places and mourning the family she could have had. And while Queenie may still be “working on it,” she’s much closer to discovering what she really wants out of life than when we first met her as a 25-year-old spiraling out of control.
It’s been seven years since we last heard from Queenie Jenkins, the messy yet lovable protagonist at the center of Candice Carty-Williams’ two novels. In this latest book, we pick up with Queenie finding herself in yet another precarious professional predicament: When a doctor’s appointment intended for research goes left, she is forced to confront startling truths about her fertility. Her world quickly turns upside down; it is no longer a question of whether she wants children, but whether she can ever have them.
Queenie immediately springs into action, enlisting her girlfriends to help jumpstart her wellness journey, and together they devise an outlandish plan to turn one of her situationships into a viable baby daddy contender. Hijinks ensue, and everything from the stress of her job to an unexpected reunion with the ex-love of her life and her complicated family dynamics threatens to throw her entire plan off its axis. With every turn of the page, you’re bracing for the proverbial other shoe to drop while rooting for Queenie to get her happily ever after.
Carty-Williams is a master of continuity, and this new installment of Queenie’s story flows seamlessly between the messy mistakes of her past and the more mature evolution of her present-day life. Queenie is dynamic, imperfect, and feels like a friend you can go a while without seeing but immediately fall back into lock-step with over a long meal and strong martinis.
She has an unapologetic sexual appetite and knows her body holds immense power, even if the men she’s involved with don’t always care for it as they should. Underneath it all, Queenie wants what we all want: love, respect, and stability. But beyond the ups and downs of her everyday life, a deeper story is unfolding—one that Black women, including myself, know all too well.
Queenie Is Working On It arrives as many women in my close circle are adding “mother” to their list of personal and professional accomplishments. Their paths vary: some are journeying with partners while others go solo; some are freezing eggs or embryos; some conceived naturally while others endured multiple rounds of expensive fertility treatments.
Regardless of the route, every one of these women has navigated a healthcare system that was never built to care for Black women’s bodies. The book underscores this inequity. As Queenie sits through appointments peppered with lackluster bedside manner and microaggressions, she is dismissively instructed to lose weight to increase her chances. These moments, though brief in the narrative, are loud, lasting, and hauntingly familiar.
There’s humor, discomfort, and a profound honesty in Carty-Williams’ writing that calls for self-reflection. Queenie Is Working On It, dropping on September 8, succeeds where many sequels fail: it evolves while staying entirely true to its source material.
Kayla Conti is a Brooklyn-based reader, writer and communications executive. You can find more of her musings on Substack at TLDR Things, where she discusses books, travel, fashion and life as a 30-something-year-old Black woman. Conti also curates a monthly book club for Black women who enjoy reading fiction by other Black and brown women. And when she’s not reading and traveling, you can find her enjoying wine with friends or geeking out over Formula 1, fitness and breakfast foods.