Clear some space on your bookshelf — there are many
great books being published next year, but Jendella
Benson’s Hope & Glory is the one you’ll be telling your
friends about. The story is set in Peckham, where Glory
arrives home from a glamorous life in LA to mourn the
sudden death of her father, only to find that her family has
fallen apart while she has been away. The inspiration
behind the book? “The chaos of my quarter-life crisis
— there was a lot going on,” Benson says. Currently head
of editorial at Black Ballad, the award-winning digital
community for black British women, the 32-year-old says
she was finding her way alongside her
lead character, “trying to work out what
ideas of community and family look
like, alongside wrestling with my own
experiences and grieving my mother’s
death”. The result? One of 2022’s most
raved-about debuts, already praised by
the bestselling author Candice Carty-
Williams and optioned for a TV series
to be shown on ITV. RK ■The debut novelist
Jendella Benson
Style
Ones to
watch
For the 19-year-old Native American model Quannah
Chasinghorse the past year has been somewhat busy.
Having fronted campaigns for Chanel and made catwalk
appearancesat Gucci and Gabriela Hearst, she is fast
becoming one of fashion’s favourite faces — and voices.
Chasinghorse’s traditional facial tattoos, done by her
mother, represent various rites of passage in her life, and
she is using her new-found fame to shine a light on her
Native American ancestry: both Hän Gwich’in (the First
Nations people of Alaska and northwestern Canada)
and Oglala Lakota (from South Dakota). “I really want to
see people in powerful positions making space for
indigenous voices,” Chasinghorse told InStyle magazine
last month. “It’s time to uplift, include more voices and
highlight indigenous excellence.” JMThe catwalk activist
Quannah
Chasinghorse
Marcelle Adrianna, @hayleygeorgiamorris/ TikTok, Getty Images, Tols Abeni
The Sunday Times Style • 15