Sweetness in the Skin by Ishi Robinson is another of my picks for Read Caribbean month. This coming-of-age novel explores the harsh realities of growing up in a dysfunctional home while navigating the painful effects of colourism. Along the way, Robinson also weaves in themes of abuse, love, sacrifice, generational trauma, betrayal, jealousy, and resilience.
Title: Sweetness in the Skin: A Novel
Author(s): Ishi Robinson
Published by Harper on April 22, 2025
Pages: 368
Genre(s): Young Adult
Source: Purchase
Format: Paperback
Purchase: Amazon|Audible
Rating:
A Jamaican girl is 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. 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 Dkin follows thirteen-year-old Akisha Patterson, affectionately known as Pumpkin. She lives with her mother, aunt, and grandmother. While the older women provide varying degrees of care and support, her mother remains emotionally distant and often cruel. The strongest bond in Pumpkin’s life is with her aunt Sophie. Her dreams of escaping poverty and building a better life in France eventually become Pumpkin’s dream as well. That shared hope gives the story a sense of purpose. It also drives Pumpkin to keep pushing forward despite the many obstacles placed in her path.
One of the novel’s greatest strengths is Pumpkin herself. She is an incredibly resilient protagonist. She faced betrayal and discrimination, and yet she continues to push forward. Along the way, she gained help from well-meaning peers and adults. What struck me most was how much responsibility she had to shoulder at such a young age because of an absentee father and a mother who failed to provide the care and support she needed.
I appreciated the complexity of Pumpkin’s mother. I disliked the way she treated her daughter. While I could not condone her actions, the novel provides enough context to understand how her own lack of maternal love and years of resentment shaped her behaviour. She grew up without experiencing a mother’s love and watched her older sister receive affection and preferential treatment because of her connection to a wealthy family. That nuance added depth to the story and prevented the characters from feeling one-dimensional.
Although the book deals with heavy themes. Robinson includes lighter moments that provide balance and make the emotional scenes even more impactful. These scenes make the characters feel real and help maintain the novel’s emotional rhythm.
The ending was not what I expected, but it still felt satisfying and true to Pumpkin’s journey. Sweetness in the Skin is an emotional, thought-provoking novel that tackles difficult subjects with honesty while still leaving room for hope. For readers who enjoy character-driven stories about resilience, family, and self-worth, this is a compelling and memorable read.
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About Ishi Robinson
Ishi Robinson was born and raised in Kingston, Jamaica. A Canadian citizen, she has lived in Bern, Toronto, Rome, London and now lives in Berlin with her Czech husband. Her first published work was a short story in Jamaica’s national newspaper when she was eleven years old. At seventeen, she started a weekly column in The Jamaica Observer on teenage life in Kingston. She also previously wrote a weekly column on life as an expat in Rome for a now-defunct online magazine. She got back into fiction writing in Berlin, from where she has published short stories in several online publications and one anthology
