Safiya Sinclair is a wonder and so is her extraordinary book HOW TO SAY BABYLON. This memoir tells the story of Safiya’s upbringing in Jamaica under the watch of a strictly Rastafarian father, and it’s about reclaiming her identity and womanhood from the wreckage of that place — with the help of space and poetry. It is deeply felt, brilliantly observed, lushly told, novelistic in style — an absolute tour de force that both broke my heart and swept me off my feet.

Jesmyn Ward called HOW TO SAY BABYLON “lit from the inside by Sinclair’s determination to learn and live freely, and to see her beloveds freed, too.” This is a story of personal triumph, but also a gorgeous and complicated homage to an upbringing marked by anger and rules, love and loyalty.

One of my very favorite books in recent memory, HOW TO SAY BABYLON so richly deserves all the praise it has received. And I will be thinking about this conversation for a long time to come. If you haven’t yet read HOW TO SAY BABYLON, wait no longer!