Patsy

Hope. Both my parents emigrated to Brooklyn, so when I read Nicole Dennis-Benn’s novel titled, Patsy, featuring an immigrant living in Brooklyn, I was receptive to the story. Patsy left her life in Jamaica for a better life in Brooklyn but finds her situation more difficult than she imagined. She left her five-year-old daughter, Tru, behind in Jamaica and Dennis-Benn moves back and forth over the course of a decade as she reveals the changing lives of both Patsy and Tru. Hope may be one of the most powerful drivers of human behavior, and the bonds between mothers and daughters take many forms. Life often requires resilience, and love can be a balm for what we do to harm others and to heal our own wounds. I learned only after my father’s death that he never wanted to come to the United States. A brother had booked passage and arrangements had been made for him with a relative in New York. That brother broke his leg, and was unable to sail, so my father was told he had to quit his job and go to the US whether he wanted to or not. It took him forty years to see those brothers face-to-face again. Dennis-Benn understands. Rating: Four-star (I like it) Click here to purchase Patsy from amazon.com.