Day’s YA: SONGS OF IRIE

SONGS OF IRIE by Asha Ashanti Bromfield
9781250846808
10/10/23
Wednesday Books
Ages 13-18

Jilly and Irie are not ready for what awaits them after high school is over. Best friends in the walls of school, Irie doesn’t know what Jilly’s life is like in the comfort of her mansion, tucked in a lush garden behind the safety of gates. Jilly wouldn’t believe the fighting that happens right outside Irie’s home, the struggle to have three meals a day, and the poverty her family faces. At school, it was easy to put their differences aside, to pretend that they live in the same Jamaica, listen to the same Reggae music, and both have bright futures to look forward to. But as their high school days come to an end, Jilly and Irie are forced to take their friendship beyond the safety of school if they want it to last.

When a close friend of Irie’s family is shot and killed in an act of political violence at her family’s record store, Irie decides that it’s time for her to use her voice and her song to stand up for herself and her loved ones. On the other side of Jamaica, Jilly is awaiting to hear the fate of her future with a looming college acceptance letter to Cambridge and a marriage proposal from another political family. Desperate to see one another again, Jilly invites Irie to her home for a family dinner party on the same night that Irie might just get her big break into the music world. A night that begins with an interrogation from Jilly’s family into Irie’s life leads to Irie’s first ever first stage. And, along the way, Jilly and Irie try to understand the sparks that are flying between them and what it means to be in love. But, can their love survive a revolution? Is it possible to not let the differences in their lives and politics come between them?

Asha Ashanti Bromfield’s second book, following HURRICANE SUMMER, is a heartfelt and heartbreaking story about an underrepresented and important moment in history. While Irie and Jilly’s friendship is at the heart of this book, SONGS OF IRIE is a powerful and urgent look at a time of economic upheaval and class tensions in 1970s Jamaica. Jilly and Irie are real girls, navigating the opposite lives that they live and the obstacles they face while asking what it means to fight for your words, your life, and the ones that you love. This is a beautiful and gripping love story that is achingly unforgettable. This is perfect for readers of ON THE COME UP for its conflict with a musical backdrop, ANGER IS A GIFT for a tale of tragedy that sparks change, and THE BLACK KIDS for historical fiction that reads like a contemporary novel. 

Happy reading!
<3 Samantha

YA Resources:
2023 Books for Teens
Day’s YA Archives
2023 Adult Books for Teens