Sweetness In the Skin

Pumkin Patterson dreams of a life beyond her Jamaican hometown. But what we dream of and where we belong aren’t always the same thing…This heartfelt and uplifting story is for fans of The Girl With the Louding Voice and The Reading List

‘A delightful, at times humorous story set in Jamaica, amid heartbreak, hopefulness, and mirth’ CHARMAINE WILKERSON, author of Black Cake

‘A tender exploration of familial love, both the family you’re born to, and the one you find along the way’ CHARLENE CARR, author of Hold My Girl

For Pumkin Patterson, family is complicated. There’s her mother Paulette, who ignores her.

There’s her beloved Auntie Sophie, who her mother resents. And there’s her grandmother, who has always played favourites. Whenever tensions rise, Pumkin retreats to the kitchen - creating the Jamaican bread puddings and coconut drops that have always given her comfort.

When Sophie moves to France for work, she vows to send for her niece in one year’s time. But in order to follow her aunt, Pumkin has a mountain to climb. Starting with the question of how she’ll manage to escape her mother, and make enough money to get to Marseille.

Inspired by her skills in the kitchen, Pumkin turns to her community in the hope that she can sell enough sweet treats to bake her way out. But when her school and her mother discover her plan, everything she’s worked so hard for may slip through her fingers...