My Own Dear People

‘Immediate and immersive … Thompson explores the trajectory of a conflicted, flawed young man who slowly seeks to make amends and become a better person’ — TLS

‘An important, beautifully written novel about a young man’s struggle to come to terms with the actions (and inactions) of his own past. This is one of the best books I have read in a long, long time.’ — Jerry Stahl, author of Nein, Nein, Nein!

Nyjah Messado has built a life away from home, but he is haunted not by a ghost, but by a memory: the moment he witnessed a brutal sexual assault and chose silence.

Raised within the rigid masculine codes of an elite Jamaican boys’ school, Nyjah learns early what is expected of him: loyalty to other men, contempt for weakness, and the careful management of guilt. Years later, returning to Montego Bay, he must navigate a city shaped by class divisions, colonial legacies and violence, while confronting the moral cost of what he failed to do.

My Own Dear People is a fierce, lyrical coming-of-age novel about masculinity, complicity and self-deception. Unflinching in its treatment of rape culture and homophobia, it asks whether forgiveness, of others, or of oneself, is ever truly possible.