At once cinematic yet intimate, Broughtupsy is an enthralling debut novel about a young Jamaican woman grappling with grief as she discovers her family, her home, is always just out of reach Tired of not having a place to land, twenty-year-old Akúa flies from Canada to her native Jamaica to reconnect with her estranged sister. Their younger brother Bryson has recently passed from sickle cell anemia—the same disease that took their mother ten years prior—and Akúa carries his remains in a small wooden box with the hopes of reassembling her family. Over the span of two fateful weeks, Akúa and Tamika visit significant places from their childhood—the home they grew up in, their mother's grave, a favorite beach—where Akúa slowly spreads Bryson's ashes. But time spent with her sister only clarifies how different they are, and how years of living abroad haves distanced Akúa from her home culture. "Am I Jamaican?" she asks herself again and again. But beneath these haunting doubts lies her anger and resentment at being abandoned by her own blood. "Why didn't you stay with me?" she wants to ask Tamika. Wandering through Kingston with her brother's ashes in tow, Akúa meets Jayda, a brash young woman who shows her a different side of the city. As the two grow closer, Akúa confronts the difficult reality of being gay in a deeply religious family, and what being a gay woman in Jamaica actually means. By turns diasporic family saga, bildungsroman, and terse sexual awakening, Broughtupsy is a profoundly moving debut novel that asks: what do we truly owe our family, and what are we willing to do to savor the feeling of home? Ms. , A Must-Read Book Elle , A Best Literary Fiction Book of the Year Debutiful , A Best Book of the Year Electric Literature , A Best Novel of the Year Cosmopolitan , A Best New Book of January Nylon , A Best Book of the Month Named a Most Anticipated Book by Elle , Goodreads, Write or Die , Electric Literature, Literary Hub, Lambda Literary Review, Bookshop, and LGBTQ Reads "Cooke’s vibrant debut novel is a queer coming-of-age story and a chronicle of diasporic rediscovery." —Hannah Giorgis, The Atlantic "[T]alent is very much in evidence in Broughtupsy , which unfolds with a casual intensity, a lifelike meandering narrative which captures the quality of the visit between the sisters, gradually building to its dramatic climax. The story weaves effortlessly between present and past, showing—often at a single glance—historic events and their effect in the present. It’s a dizzying, compelling effect, and one which Cooke achieves with a deceptive ease . . . Broughtupsy is a powerful account of an attempt to find a place, both in the physical world, and deep within the self." —Robert Wiersema, The Toronto Star "The idea of 'going home' is, for many members of the LGBTQ+ community, a complicated one. Take, for example, Akúa, the protagonist of Christina Cooke’s debut novel, Broughtupsy , who returns to Jamaica from Canada to connect with her sister after the loss of their younger brother. Akúa is soon forced to question what it means to belong as a young, queer, grief-stricken woman doing her best to heal. Cooke’s narration, at once poetic and conversational, lends Akúa’s story a sense of urgency and resonance." —Emma Specter, Vogue "This is a deft debut overflowing with emotion." —Lauren Puckett-Pope, Elle "A dazzling symphony of what it means to love, to grieve, and to belong." —Sarah Neilson, Shondaland "Christina Cooke’s big-hearted debut novel, Broughtupsy , captivated me with its emotional immediacy, luscious descriptions, and unrestrained embrace of all the fraught complexity of sibling relationships." —Alex Madison, Full Stop "[An] emotional and strong debut novel." —Sam Franzini, Our Culture Mag "This debut novel delivers an atmospheric story . . . If your favorite movie is Moonlight and/or you’re a Justin Torres stan, Broughtupsy will wound and delight." —Marissa Higgins, Chicago Review of Books "Drifting across continents, Broughtupsy is at once a queer bildungsroman, a tale of displacement, and a tender family saga." — Electric Literature , A Best Novel of the Year "Cooke’s grasp on grief, language, dialogue, and queerness is unparalleled . . . The world Cooke brings you into is immersive and readers will feel the emotions swelling up and bursting off the page." —Adam Vitcavage, Debutiful "A moving coming-of-age story." —Kathy Sexton, Booklist "Vivid, emotionally intense, and unafraid of the dark." — Kirkus Reviews "Cooke makes an assured debut . . . [she] successfully evokes the temerity and rebellious intelligence of Françoise Sagan’s Bonjour Tristesse ." — Publishers Weekly “ Broughtupsy is the work of a writer of immense heart. Cooke’s sharp imagination grows the more you read this novel, which by turns, brims with careful, sensitive storytelling. This debut promises, delivers, and delights.” —Canisia Lubrin, author of Cod