• Sweetness in the Skin

  • A Novel
  • By: Ishi Robinson
  • Narrated by: Deja Bowens
  • Length: 8 hrs and 58 mins
  • 5.0 out of 5 stars (1 rating)

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Sweetness in the Skin  By  cover art

Sweetness in the Skin

By: Ishi Robinson
Narrated by: Deja Bowens
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Publisher's summary

“A delightful coming-of-age story set in Jamaica, amid heartbreak, hopefulness, and mirth.”—Charmaine Wilkerson, New York Times bestselling author of Black Cake

One of the BBC and Zibby Mag's Most Anticipated Books of 2024

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.

©2024 Ishi Robinson (P)2024 HarperCollins Publishers

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Scrumptious Book to Curl into

Loved the book & Audible Jamaican narration it made it an absolute page turner about a four teen year old struggling to survive life’s goals in school without proper parental help. The baking to help hustle funds made the read even more exciting. Didn’ hav to worry nothin’ bout drugs, vulgar langu’ (except one word on one page). One page spoke about a shocking sexual encounter but nothing that endangered the teens except heart thumping, get away self conscience excitement. It was a good read. I would recommend this to anyone and if they were underage I would simple black out the sexual sentience, to avoid wide eye surprise. A child doesn’t need to walk by and see such things but it gets the message across how awful her life was with a Mother who only focused on fake male love then the fact of being loved and loving innocent life that needs tender love too. Whom she finds it through friends and good samaritains. Very good read! And Loves the Artist who designed the cover of the book, the cover grasped my attention before the subject.

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