Stylist’s Best New Fiction of 2024

London, 1936. Two sisters are ready to take the city and the world by storm.

Bath, 2012. Two young Black men are figuring out who they are, and who they want to become.

Manny is forthright, intellectual, and determined to make her mark on the London literary scene. Her younger sister Rita, the Baby, just wants to dance. In the smoky clubs that pulsate underneath Soho’s vibrant streets, Rita finds herself drawn into a new world of Black ambition, along with the masterful mimic and trumpeter, Ezekiel Brown, from Jamaica. As tensions rise and the shadow of fascism and war snaps at their heels, the two sisters are faced with choices that will alter their lives forever.

Itai has fled London to his late father’s flat in Bath. Listening to cassette tapes his father made, he feels both drawn in and shut out of his former life — who is Rita? Why did his father record her life story? And where can he find her now, to return the tapes? Meanwhile, his developing friendship with Josh, a young athlete who moonlights as a dealer to fund his training for the next Olympics, is on unsteady ground, as Josh has been sent by his bosses to find out what the hell Itai is doing in Bath.

Manny and the Baby is a character-driven debut novel, full of heart, about what it means to be Black and British, now and in the past.

‘Manny and the Baby stood out for me from the first few lines. The beautifully balanced prose, the wonderful story, and sumptuous detail are constructed with poetic precision and held my attention right until the very end.’ Jacqueline Crooks, author of Fire Rush

‘An incredibly special writer, thoughtful and energetic, occasionally savage, wise beyond her years, with an eye and an ear for syntax that is masterful . . . Varaidzo is the future, and Manny and the Baby is a book for the ages.’ Nikesh Shukla

‘Manny and the Baby is not just a book, it is an immersion into the mind of a writer who knows the value and purpose of every paragraph, sentence, and word, the work of a refreshing and unmatched talent. There is a richness to this world and these characters that makes you see them beyond the page, and remember them long after you’ve finished the book, leaving you desperate to find them all over again.’ Ore Agbaje-Williams, author of The Three of Us

‘Varaidzo is a spellbinding writer. A literary time traveller. Taking the reader between worlds so effortlessly. Breaking our hearts tenderly and somehow putting it back together again. An incredible debut, I’m already thinking about when I’ll read Manny and the Baby again.’ Kelechi Okafor, author of Edge of Here

‘Manny and The Baby doesn’t fall into the trap of cliches. It’s packed with originality and emotion. Varaidzo builds two worlds like no other in this tale and that’s why this book is so brilliant. A modern twist where nostalgia and the present day intertwine beautifully.’ Iggy London, author of Mandem

‘Transporting . . . an uplifting ode to the power of family and enduring love.’ Francesca Brown, Stylist

‘Varaidzo provides telling portraits of black British lives, past and present.’ Nick Rennison, Sunday Times

‘Loved the exquisite writing, the scene-setting, the absolute energy of the characters, how it all plays out.’ Bookbag

‘The descriptions of smoky Soho Jazz clubs are vivid and enticing, and the struggles of black people then, contrasted with now, are thought provoking and important. It’s great on relationships of all kinds, grief, and shared history.’ Sara Lawrence, Daily Mail

‘The writing draws you in with the warmth of a crackly two bar heater. Varaidzo is a careful, skilful writer who has pulled off a layered story with verve and style. Varaidzo’s debut novel offers a beautifully clear window into lives and histories that would be otherwise hidden, just out of sight. I’ll walk Soho’s streets differently after Manny and the Baby.’ Emma Warren, Heavenly Recordings