If I Survive You

Written by Jonathan Escoffery

Narrated by Torian Brackett

SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2023 BOOKER PRIZE

‘Dazzling’ GUARDIAN

‘Blistering’ THE TIMES

'A delight' DIANA EVANS

‘Fiction written at the highest level’ ANN PATCHETT

'Hilarious, revelatory' MARLON JAMES

An electrifying, hilarious and deeply moving tragicomic debut novel following a Jamaican family grappling with a new life in the US.

‘What are you?’

This is the puzzled question that greets a young Trelawny growing up in a Miami where his racial ambiguity is regarded with confusion and suspicion. It’s not just his neighbours, his Jamaican parents Topper and Sanya don’t seem to understand him either. Then there’s his stubborn older brother Delano, who is determined to secure a better future for his own children, no matter what it takes.

As both brothers navigate the challenges littered in their path – a woefully unreliable father, racism, recession and even a hurricane – they find themselves increasingly at odds. Will they make it through together or must one brother’s future come at the cost of the other?

Shortlisted for the 2024 Gordon Burn Prize

‘An astonishingly assured debut novel … clarity, variety and fizzing prose’ BOOKER PRIZE JUDGES

‘So damn funny’ RUMAAN ALAM

‘Astonishing’ I NEWSPAPER

'Utterly unstoppable’ IRISH TIMES

What readers say:

‘So good it was hard to put down’

‘Humour, real feeling … totally recommend’

‘So engrossing and entertaining’

‘A must read’

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Release date: Oct 4, 2022
• ISBN: 9780008606022

Jonathan Escoffery

Jonathan Escoffery is the recipient of the 2020 Plimpton Prize for Fiction, a 2020 National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship, and the 2020 ASME Award for Fiction. His fiction has appeared in The Paris Review, American Short Fiction, Prairie Schooner, AGNI, Passages North, Zyzzyva, and Electric Literature, and has been anthologized in The Best American Magazine Writing. He is a fellow in the University of Southern California’s PhD in Creative Writing and Literature Program, and in 2021 he was awarded a Wallace Stegner Fellowship from Stanford University. He was raised in Miami, Florida. If I Survive You is his first book.

Reviews for If I Survive You

[Sonya Davis · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

One of those books that you go in blind and it surprises you. A enjoyable read that looks at life from a father and sons' perspective, and having to navigate life in a country that they are not originally from or whose parents are immigrants.

[bookwyrmm_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Escoffery has a unique voice that really draws the reader in, even as he plays with styles among these connected short stories.

[ccayne_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The effect is subtle but Escoffery makes an emotional connection between the characters and the reader. We had a great book club discussion and we all remarked on the similarities with "Calling for a Blanket Dance", our previous month's book. We agreed that this book drew the reader in to care for all of the characters and struggle along with them.

[ridgewaygirl · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is the story of a Jamaican American family, primarily told through the experiences of Trelawney, the youngest son. Spanning decades, beginning with Hurricane Andrew, blasting through their family home and through the family's stability, through Trelawney's struggles to make his way in a world not eager to allow a Black man to succeed.

This is a novel about toxic family dynamics and a lonely boy who couldn't figure out where he belongs. I'm not sure this novel entirely succeeds; the effort being put into its writing sometimes shows, but Escoffery has a unique voice and a real talent and his writing career will be one to watch.