Sugar Town Queens

June 15, 2021
A South African teen unravels the mysteries of her own and her mother's pasts. Amandla's life is filled with the unknown. Not only are her mother Annalisa's "episodes" unpredictable, Amandla also knows next to nothing about either of their personal histories. Mixed-race Amandla does know that her father was Black, which is rather scandalous even in her post-Mandela nation given that Annalisa is White. When Annalisa returns from Durban on Amandla's 15th birthday, badly shaken and without her usual practical gifts, Amandla finds an address and lots of cash in Annalisa's purse. She decides to investigate in hopes of finally getting answers to her many questions. What she discovers could have led to a basic rags-to-riches story, but Nunn avoids that trope, choosing instead to focus on the amazing community of their township, Sugar Town; indeed, the setting is one of the strongest aspects of the story. The community of strong women who support Amandla is juxtaposed with one she later encounters that lacks the same cohesiveness. What follows are many highly dramatic turns of events and a narrative that shows a young woman reckoning with possible paths lying ahead and harsh judgments of women's behavior. The novel ultimately acknowledges that different people behave in different ways, even given similar circumstances. This origin-story mystery features a cast that reflects the diversity of its setting. Engrossing to the end. (Fiction. 14-18)

COPYRIGHT(2021) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Starred review from August 1, 2021

Gr 8 Up-Amandla wakes up on her 15th birthday only to remember that surprise gifts are not always a good thing, especially when they come from her mother Annalisa. This year the gift is a blue "dress" made out of a sheet that will supposedly bring her long-absent father home. As always, Amandla acquiesces to Annalisa's fragile mental state and dons the strange attire while frantically plotting an escape plan. People already wonder about her mother's blonde hair, blue eyes, and white skin, which stand in stark contrast to Amandla's brown skin and greenflecked hazel eyes. She cannot imagine the humiliation awaiting her when she leaves the house wearing the sheet and ponders the cause of her mother's mental fuzziness and "visions," why they live in their poor community, and who and where her father is. These questions propel the plot forward as Amandla uncovers the painful secrets of her mother's past with the help of supportive, intergenerational friends and family. She also gains the courage to confront violent misogyny and racism in a post-apartheid South Africa, coming to accept herself as a biracial, intelligent individual. VERDICT This descriptive, fast-paced narrative is a compelling read that is difficult to put down and will likely fly off library shelves.-Ruth Quiroa, National Louis Univ., Lisle, IL

Copyright 2021 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 23, 2021
Half-Black Amandla Harden, 15, just wants a normal birthday without dealing with her white single mother Annalisa’s “notions.” In Sugar Town, a township “on the fringe of” Durban, South Africa, Amandla’s family is known both because of their poverty and because of their mixed race. When Amandla finds a stack of cash and an address, she follows it, finding her terminally ill maternal grandmother and the rest of her mother’s previously hidden rich, white family. Despite Annalisa’s reservations and warnings against Amandla’s brutish grandfather, Amandla and her Mayme want to spend time together. As Amandla learns that people from Annalisa’s past thought she had run away or died, Amandla wonders what truly caused her mother’s memory loss, and just where her father could be. Friends Lil Bit and Goodness support Amandla as they navigate their messy lives, helping her find her place—both among her real family, and the family she’s always had in Sugar Town. Nunn (When the Ground is Hard) illuminates the struggles of a cast of strong-willed South African women who build each other up while meeting the intersections of misogyny, racism, and classism head-on. Ages 12–up.

September 1, 2021
Set in a township in contemporary South Africa, this story revolves around a society still grappling with the effects of a post-apartheid reality. Amandla has never met her father, who is Black. On her fifteenth birthday, her mentally unstable white mother comes home from a trip insisting that if Amandla wears a homemade dress in his favorite color, he will return. The teen is used to her mother's often strange and secretive behavior, but this time she decides to look for answers to her many questions, especially surrounding her father. After finding a large amount of money and an unknown address hidden in her mother's purse, she and her friends become unlikely sleuths, unraveling a mystery that is at the core of Amandla's identity. As the mystery concerning her family tree is gradually revealed, so too is the history of a country that all too recently would have considered her very existence to be illegal. The excitement of the mystery; the memorable cast of characters, particularly the female characters; and the many twists and turns of the plot keep the pages turning until the very end. Monique Harris

(Copyright 2021 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

Starred review from September 15, 2021
Grades 7-12 *Starred Review* Fifteen-year-old Amandla has always set her sights on leaving Sugar Town, a slum outside Durban, South Africa. However, her future is difficult to imagine, as she knows only three things about herself: she does well in school, her father (whom she never met) was Black, her mother is white. When her mother returns from one of her secret trips to Durban, Amandla finds a note and a wad of cash, prompting her to investigate where her mother goes. What she discovers is family she never knew about and a history she couldn't have imagined. Rather than leaning on a clich�d rags-to-riches story, Nunn grounds her tale in Amandla's convictions and embrace of her life and neighbors in Sugar Town. Complexities of race and racism in Mandela's freed South Africa are handled with realism and strength, both in Sugar Town and the sudden dichotomy of Amandla's life. Abandonment, poverty, parental illness, friendship, first love, unexpected allies, and sexual harassment are some of the topics woven into the whole, but it is the resilient community that is front and center in Nunn's uncommon and detailed setting. Readers will cheer Amandla as she discovers who she is and where she came from in this captivating book.

COPYRIGHT(2021) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

July 1, 2021
Set in a township in contemporary South Africa, this story revolves around a society still grappling with the effects of a post-apartheid reality. Amandla has never met her father, who is Black. On her fifteenth birthday, her mentally unstable white mother comes home from a trip insisting that if Amandla wears a homemade dress in his favorite color, he will return. The teen is used to her mother's often strange and secretive behavior, but this time she decides to look for answers to her many questions, especially surrounding her father. After finding a large amount of money and an unknown address hidden in her mother's purse, she and her friends become unlikely sleuths, unraveling a mystery that is at the core of Amandla's identity. As the mystery concerning her family tree is gradually revealed, so too is the history of a country that all too recently would have considered her very existence to be illegal. The excitement of the mystery; the memorable cast of characters, particularly the female characters; and the many twists and turns of the plot keep the pages turning until the very end.

(Copyright 2021 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

June 8, 2021
Sugar Town Queens is a young adult coming-of-age novel by Malla Nunn, author of When the Ground is Hard. Her latest book follows 15-year-old Amandla, who is mixed-raced and growing up in Sugar Town, one of South Africa’s many townships. Money is the only way out and when Amandla discovers that her mother comes from money, she begins to wonder why they are stuck in Sugar Town instead of Durban. Amandla sets out to uncover the truth about her wealthy white family. Sugar Town Queens strikes the perfect balance between character- and plot-driven story. Through her quest for the truth, Amandla, who has always lived in a form of isolation, slowly begins to realise the power of community and Ubuntu, the Zulu philosophy that a person is a person because of other people. Newfound friendship helps to create newfound family. Nunn does a phenomenal job at incorporating Zulu culture, tradition and language into the novel—these aspects of life have a significant impact on how the characters communicate, interact and live. Nunn also makes a point to talk about South Africa post-Mandela and the difficulties of bringing together a nation so divided by race and wealth. Like recent similarly politically charged YA novels The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas and I Am Change by Suzy Zail, context is given for these topics so they’re easy to understand but never feel separate to the main story. In Sugar Town Queens Amandla’s South Africa is both beautiful and deeply flawed, much like those she loves. Tracy-Kate Simambo is a poet and former Djed Press mentee. Read her interview with Malla Nunn about Sugar Town Queens here.