‘Dazzling. Potent. Vital’ Tara Westover, author of Educated

‘To read it is to believe that words can save’ Marlon James, author of A Brief History of Seven Killings

‘One of the most gut-wrenching, soul-stirring, electrifying memoirs I've ever read’ Nicole Dennis-Benn, author of Here Comes the Sun

There was more than one way to be lost, more than one way to be saved.

Born in Montego Bay, Jamaica, where luxury hotels line pristine white sand beaches, Safiya Sinclair grew up guarding herself against an ever-present threat. Her father, a volatile reggae musician and strict believer in a militant sect of Rastafari, railed against Babylon, the corrupting influence of the immoral Western world just beyond their gate. Rastas were ostracised in Jamaica, and in this isolation Safiya’s father’s rule was absolute. To protect the purity of the women in their family he forbade almost everything: no short skirts and no opinions, nowhere but home and school, no friends but this family and no future but this path.

Her mother did what she could to bring joy to her children with books, poetry and education. But as Safiya’s imagination reached beyond its restrictive borders, her burgeoning independence brought with it greater clashes with her ever more radical father. Safiya realised that if she was to live at all, she had to find some way to leave home. But how?

In seeking to understand the past of her family, Safiya Sinclair takes readers inside a world that is little understood by those outside it and offers an astonishing personal reckoning. How to Say Babylon is a testament to the forces of hope and imagination that light up every page and an unforgettable story of a young woman’s determination to live life on her own terms.

‘A story with radiant transformative power. I couldn’t put it down’ Nadia Owusu, author of Aftershocks

'Her language is distinctive, assured, and a marvel to read' Cathy Park Hong, author of Minor Feelings