An Autobiography of Skin: A Novel [Paperback]

A NEW YORKER BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR • This magisterial, intimate look at Black womanhood follows three women whose various traumas haunt them literally and metaphorically, as it explores what it means to be a Black woman in America today (The New York Times Book Review, Editor's Choice).

A middle-aged woman feed slots at a secret back-room parlor. A new mother descends into a devastating postpartum depression, wracked with the fear that she is unable to protect her children. A daughter returns home to join the other women in her family waging spiritual combat with the ghosts of their past.

An Autobiography of Skin is a dazzling and masterful portrait of interconnected generations in the South from a singular new voice, offering a raw and tender view into the interior lives of Black women. It is at once a powerful look at how experiences are carried inside the body, inside the flesh and skin, and a joyous testament to how healing can be found within—in love, mercy, gratitude, and freedom.A New York Times Editor’s Choice
Longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize
A Texas Observer Best Book of the Year
 
[A] powerful debut.
—The New Yorker

“In this love letter to women, Lakiesha Carr drops us into the lives of a multigenerational group of unforgettable women. . . . Part of the book’s pleasure is discovering how [they] are connected via three achingly poignant, interconnected stories, connections which are not at all typical, but unexpected and true-to-life.”
—Amerie’s Book Club, March 2023 Selection
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