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Fire Rush

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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

London, 1978. Yamaye, a woman in her 20s unsure of who she is, but with dreams of being a DJ and MC. Yamaye lives for the weekend, when she can go raving with her friends at The Crypt, an underground club in the industrial town on the outskirts of London where she was born and raised.

Everything changes when she falls deeply in love with Moose: he offers the chance of freedom and change. When their relationship is cut brutally short, Yamaye goes on a dramatic journey of transformation that takes her first to Bristol, where she gets caught up in a criminal gang, and then to Jamaica, where past and present collide with devastating consequences.

© Jacqueline Crooks 2023 (P) Penguin Audio 2023

 20th Century Caribbean Creators Coming of Age Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Historical Fiction Literary Fiction Romance Women's Fiction World Literature Heartfelt England

Critic reviews

Remarkable... In terms of sheer lyrical force it stands head and shoulders above most debuts
I was blown away by Fire Rush - an exceptional and stunningly original novel by a major new writer... Her mesmerising, imaginative and incantatory writing leaves us swaying to the bass of the visceral rhythms she so powerfully describes. By the end of the novel, I felt charged and changed and already longed to reread it (Bernardine Evaristo, Booker Prize-winning author of GIRL, WOMAN, OTHER)
Few have channelled so well the skittering beats and transcendent air of dub music as Crooks does in her semi-autobiographical debut... Startlingly vivid reading
A heady swirl of a novel that pulls the reader in from the first page... A fabulous, absorbing read (Maggie O'Farrell, author of THE MARRIAGE PORTRAIT)
A window into the dub scene at the time, with rhythmic, lyrical writing and a story about raving, love and the impact of police violence... Both a page turner and a literary novel... Truly remarkable
A hypnotic journey into the dub reggae scene
This beautiful, sprawling narrative is wrought with an incredible precision and a musicality which carries every sentence. Crooks' novel haunts but make space for hope as well (Caleb Azumah Nelson, author of OPEN WATER)
A colourful, immersive debut... Throughout, a passion and anger resound as we gain a glimpse into a rarely observed British subculture
A brilliant, exuberant novel. Full of beauty, musicality and feminist power (Irenosen Okojie, author of NUDIBRANCH)
A scorching, lyrical debut, soaked in dub reggae
All stars
Most relevant
Loved this book, the story is one I recognise in myself back in the 70s. It's authenticity is great, from London to Jamaica. A real Jamaican will understand.

Loved this book

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Fabulous story read beautifully, totally immersed me in her life and times in England then Jamaica, I was shaking ma batty.

Fabulous story and narration

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Beautiful narration from Leonie Elliot can we have her doing voiceovers on other books. I felt transported into the black music scene of the late 70's with ease, and felt the tension and europhia from chapter 1 to 30 brilliant story, hopefully we hear more from the author soon.

On point narration

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Love the characterisation and the vivid descriptions that brought the story to life. Truly absorbing.

What a story! What narration! Wonderful.

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Yammaye is first generation British Caribbean. This novel charts the racism and police brutality, a back drop to life that forced people into to dark corners to find a sense of belonging. It is also a testament as to the lengths some women will go to to survive.

There is a Fire Rush inside us all. We just have to find it.

I particularly recommend the audio edition of this novel as it includes music which brings the narrative to life further.

This is a book you feel and hear as much as read.

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