skin & bones a novel

Best Book of May 2024 by New York Post. Finalist for the 2024 Westport Prize for Literature.

A plus-size single mother struggles to fit into spaces not made for her in this soulful, lyrical novel that explores what ultimately gets passed down from one generation to the next

With her wedding weeks away, Lena Baker feels excited for the next chapter. She’s built a steady life in Portland, and between wine nights with her two best friends, a loving relationship, and a rewarding job, she’s happy—until a devastating confession from her fiancé on their wedding day shakes her world. Unmoored and grieving, Lena questions everything she thought she knew about love, friendship, and motherhood.
 
In this stirring exploration of who society makes room for, one mother resolves to teach her daughter self-love even as she herself struggles with it—and learns how to shine her bold, brilliant light in a world that wants to dim it.
 
“An exquisite love letter to Black women.” —Deesha Philyaw, author of The Secret Lives of Church Ladies
 
“Renée Watson’s writing is divine.” —Kwame Alexander, author of Why Fathers Cry at Night

Renée Watson is a #1 New York Times bestselling author. Over the past decade she has authored fifteen young adult books, which have collectively sold more than a million copies. She received a Coretta Scott King Award and a Newbery Honor for Piecing Me Together and high praise for 1619 Project: Born on theWater. Watson is on the Council of Writers for the National Writing Project and is a member of the Academy of American Poets’ Education Advisory Council. She is also a writer-in-residence at The Solstice Low-Residency MFA Creative Writing Program. Renée splits her time between New York City and Portland, Oregon.