Sweetness in the Skin
A Novel
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4.7 • 11 Ratings
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
“A delightful coming-of-age story set in Jamaica, amid heartbreak, hopefulness, and mirth.”—Charmaine Wilkerson, New York Times bestselling author of Black Cake
“Poignant 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.” —Julia 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 family’s social standing), her Aunt Sophie (who dreams of a new life in Paris for her and Pumkin), and her mother Paulette (who’s 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 year’s time. All Pumkin has to do is pass her French entrance exam so she can attend school there. But when Pumkin’s grandmother dies, she’s left alone with her volatile mother, and as soon as her estranged father turns up—as lazy and conniving as ever—the household’s 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 trade—but when her school and her mother find out what she’s up to, everything she’s 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 of—and where she truly belongs.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Smart, fierce 13-year-old Pumpkin relies on her beloved grandmother and her Aunt Sophie to cope with a dysfunctional home life in Jamaica. But when her grandmother dies and her aunt takes a job in France, Pumpkin becomes determined to join Sophie overseas so they can finally open a bakery together. Pumpkin is a brilliant and resourceful protagonist whose love of baking—a gift passed down from her grandmother—is palpable. We were mesmerized by Ishi Robinson’s sublime descriptions of the creations Pumpkin sells (like a mouth-watering coconut cake) to pay for her French lessons. But the heart of Pumpkin’s journey ends up being something even sweeter: the love and support of family, both traditional and found. Robinson’s debut novel is an inspiring story about discovering who you are and who you were meant to be.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Robinson's vivacious debut follows a Jamaican teenager who weighs her Kingston roots against the prospect of an exciting new life in France. Pumkin Patterson, 13, lives with her dressmaker grandmother Cecille, her beloved and ambitious aunt Sophie, and her abusive, alcoholic mom Paulette. After Cecille dies suddenly and Sophie moves out, Pumkin sets her sights on following her aunt to Paris. To do so, she must gather enough money to pay a private language academy for lessons that will help her pass the French school entrance exam. With no hope of help from her mother, who disappears for days at a time, Pumkin draws on her talent for baking, selling her wares at school and at a local shop. After she befriends a wealthy classmate at the academy, her mother and an old friend from her neighborhood painfully and derisively label her "stoosh" (pretentious), prompting her to hide her new life from her home life and vice versa. Robinson's clear eye for class and color discrimination extends to the parallel narrative of Sophie, who breaks up with a Jamaican lover in France because of his darker skin and patois, an act that throws Pumkin's trajectory into stark relief. This perceptive coming-of-age novel marks Robinson as a writer to watch.
