Black Gold

A young model is catapulted from her life in Jamaica into the international world of high fashion in this tender, powerful novel about the distance one woman must travel to discover what it means to be truly free—by the critically acclaimed and award-winning author of Patsy and Here Comes the Sun.

Nestled within Jamaica’s Blue Mountains, Cherry Village has belonged for generations to the Maroons—freed enslaved people descended from Faye’s ancestor, the legendary Grandy Henrietta. But Faye’s restless nature and independence have always set her apart, and she dreams of a life beyond the rural coffee-farming community that holds tightly to the old ways. When Faye’s mother is forced to sell their ancestral land after falling ill, Faye fears she will be trapped forever.

A chance meeting with a modeling scout offers Faye the opportunity to save her family and pursue the freedom she craves. Her career carries her into a whirlwind world of luxury and excess, love and adventure, as well as greed and deception. But her success challenges everything she thought she knew about herself, forcing her to confront a legacy of pain, resilience, and survival that began generations earlier.

A story of land and river, myth and history, unbreakable hope and generational resilience—interwoven with Jamaican folklore and featuring an unforgettable heroine—Black Gold further establishes Nicole Dennis-Benn as one of the most dynamic voices in contemporary fiction.