Amandla Zenzile Harden and her mother, Annalisa Honey-Blossom Harden, lived together in a shabby old home in Sugar Town, but it was theirs and Annalisa always kept it immaculate. She had good days and bad, with her memory of the past and Amandla’s father fractured. But Annalise always believed Amandla’s father would return to them. Amandla was fifteen – had just turned that age on one of her mother’s bad days – and when she discovered an address in her mother’s bag, she was determined to go there, to Durham, only fifteen miles from Sugar Town. It was when she arrived at the address and saw who was there that the shock hit deep inside.

Amandla and her mother were different. Annalisa was white, Amandla was brown. Her father was a Zulu – that much she knew. But what was ahead for the mother and daughter, along with Amandla’s friends, Lil Bit and Goodness, would shake the foundations of everything she had known over her fifteen years. She would discover more about true evil, racism and the horrors of the world than she ever wanted to know. But she would also discover familial love and hope. What would be the outcome of Amandla and Annalisa?

Sugar Town Queens by Aussie author Malla Nunn is a breathtaking, poignant and heartbreaking account of one family in a small shanty town in South Africa. After Nelson Mandela declared all people equal, there were many who didn’t adjust. I loved the characters of Amandla, Lil Bit and Goodness; of Annalisa and Mayme, of Mrs M and the all-seeing Blind Auntie. Sugar Town Queens is an exceptional read which brought me to tears on more than one occasion. It’s also a superb book which I have no hesitation in recommending highly.

With thanks to Allen & Unwin for my ARC to read in exchange for an honest review.
2021-release 5000-2021 arc ...more39 s April (Aprilius Maximus)1,130 6,476

An easy 5 stars!

Amandla lives with her white mother in a one room house in a makeshift town in South Africa they call Sugar Town. Her mum struggles with her mental health and has gaps in her memory when it comes to Amandla’s Black dad but one day she discovers a HUGE family secret that blows her world wide open.

This was absolutely stunning! Nunn has an effortless way of bringing these complex characters to life. Amandla and her friends are so loveable and fierce and the way that they stuck together through everything was so heartwarming.

The themes of bigotry, racism and living in poverty are effortlessly woven into the plot with so much care, I wasn’t surprised that the author was drawing on personal and past experiences.

Some extra things that I wanted to mention is that there were the two main romances (there’s a delightful queer side romance!), and the ending of this book???? Excuse me while I go and cry for 10 years
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