Queenie

by Candice Carty-Williams

“Maybe if all ah we had learned to talk about our troubles, we wouldn’t carry so much on our shoulders all the way to the grave.” He turned to walk out, his stick hitting the floor with purpose. “Maybe we haffi learn from this new generation, Veronica.”

Finally, finally, someone came through for Queenie. And who else but grandad, a man who is basically mute for the whole novel except for a few instances where he moans about his shed and the water rates. It was important to me that Grandad, this voice of quiet authority, would be the one to stand up for Queenie. While Grandma is the one who makes the rules, Grandad is the one who hears all and sees all. And, of course, because Queenie has so few experiences with Black men in the novel, it was vital that the one Black male presence in her life stands up for her. She’s been let down before by her dad was who absent, and her stepfather who was abusive. It was important that she realized that Black men were not only agents of fear or abandonment.