âA delightful coming-of-age story set in Jamaica, amid heartbreak, hopefulness, and mirth.ââCharmaine Wilkerson, New York Times bestselling author of Black Cake
âPoignant and emotional, with touches of both humor and sorrow. . . . This book makes you think about what it means to be a mother, and what it means to be a good mother.â âJulia Quinn, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Bridgerton, on Today.com
A winning debut novel about a Jamaican girl determined to bake her way out of her dysfunctional family and into the opportunity of a lifetime.
Pumkin Patterson is a thirteen-year-old girl living in a tiny two-room house in Kingston, Jamaica, with her grandmother (who wants to improve the familyâs social standing), her Aunt Sophie (who dreams of a new life in Paris for her and Pumkin), and her mother Paulette (whoâs rarely home).
When Sophie is offered the chance to move to France for work, she seizes the opportunity, and promises to send for her niece in one yearâs time. All Pumkin has to do is pass her French entrance exam so she can attend school there. But when Pumkinâs grandmother dies, sheâs left alone with her volatile mother, and as soon as her estranged father turns upâas lazy and conniving as everâthe householdâs fortunes take a turn for the worse.
Pumkin must somehow find a way to raise the money for her French exam, so she can free herself from her household and reunite with her beloved aunt in France. In a moment of ingenuity, she turns her passion for baking into a true business. Making batches of sweet potato pudding, coconut drops and chocolate cakes, Pumkin develops a booming tradeâbut when her school and her mother find out what sheâs up to, everything sheâs worked so hard for may slip through her fingers. . . .
Sweetness in the Skin is a funny and heartbreaking story about a young girl figuring out who she is, what she is capable ofâand where she truly belongs.