Sweetness in the Skin

Starred review from November 1, 2023

Robinson's debut, won at auction, and with a planned 75K-copy first printing, stars Pumkin Patterson, a 13-year-old baker who lives an unstable life in Kingston, Jamaica. She wants to move to France to be with her aunt, but standing in her way is a French exam, her wastrel father, her absent mother, and the funds needed for the test. She starts baking to raise the money, but when her plans go public, even more barriers are raised. Prepub Alert.

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February 19, 2024
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. Agent: David Forrer, InkWell Management.

March 15, 2024
A Jamaican girl seeks happiness and her place in the world, one baked good at a time. Pumkin Patterson's story starts when she's 11, a bright student and the apple of her Auntie Sophie's eye. Sophie lives with her half-sister--the resentful Paulette--Pumkin, and Pumkin's beloved grandmother. Sophie and Paulette have a volatile relationship, impaired by Paulette's belief that her mother favors the lighter-skinned and status-conscious Sophie. Sophie and Pumkin dream of escaping their deteriorated home in a disadvantaged Kingston neighborhood to live in France. When Sophie eventually goes to France, she promises to send for Pumkin as soon as she establishes herself. Pumkin is left with her neglectful and intermittently violent mother--the death of her grandmother and the reappearance of her repulsively reptilian father don't help matters. The girl's chance to move to France and attend school there depends on her ability to pass a French-language proficiency exam, but her efforts to accomplish this are thwarted by Paulette at every opportunity. Pumkin's talents for entrepreneurship and baking serve her in good stead as she develops a devoted clientele in the neighborhood and at school. Her hard-won confectionary earnings might allow for test prep and registration for the all-important exam as well as a crucial measure of independence. Debut novelist Robinson explores themes of class rivalry, racism, postcolonial damage, and self-determination...all through the eyes and ears of a teenage baking wizard as the adults who cross Pumkin's path articulate personal grievances or explanations of the status quo in Pumkin's corner of Jamaica. This coming-of-age story employs extensive dialogue in Jamaican dialect, a sincere tone, and a young person's perspective on class differences within a relatively small community (which may appeal to younger readers in search of their own escape plans). Sympathetic storytelling leavened with humor.

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Starred review from February 15, 2024
Teenage Pumkin Patterson lives in a poor neighborhood in Kingston, Jamaica, but she dreams of living in France someday, a dream nurtured by her doting grandmother and her beloved Aunt Sophie, who works at the French embassy. In order to study in France, Pumkin must pass a French-language exam, which will require costly tutoring and exam fees. Another barrier is her mother, Paulette, who is jealous of Pumkin's potential. To earn money, Pumkin starts a business selling baked goods at school, and her delicious treats gain her a following. To avoid Paulette's scrutiny, she does her baking in her best friend's kitchen and conceals her earnings. As she moves closer to achieving her goal, setbacks emerge, forcing Pumkin to consider whether France is her dream or someone else's. Robinson's debut explores a variety of themes, including colorism, generational trauma, class, and ambition, through the eyes of plucky Pumkin, who is wise beyond her years. Her struggles are authentic, as are the friendships she develops with the people who help her along the way. Readers who were moved by Abi Dar�'s The Girl with the Louding Voice (2020) will be inspired by Pumkin's journey.

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