A romantic, heart-wrenching tale of love against the odds from the Number One Sunday Times bestselling author

1930, Rajputana, India. Since her husband's death, 28-year-old photojournalist Eliza's only companion has been her camera. When the British Government send her to an Indian princely state to photograph the royal family, she's determined to make a name for herself.

But when Eliza arrives at the palace she meets Jay, the Prince's handsome, brooding brother. While Eliza awakens Jay to the poverty of his people, he awakens her to the injustices of British rule. Soon Jay and Eliza find they have more in common than they think. But their families - and society - think otherwise. Eventually they will have to make a choice between doing what's expected, or following their hearts. . .

Pumkin Patterson dreams of a life beyond her Jamaican hometown. But what we dream of and where we belong arent always the same thing

This heartfelt and uplifting story is for fans of The Girl With the Louding Voice and The Reading List

'An engaging coming-of-age tale' THE TIMES

'The word-of-mouth sensation that's making waves . . . Luminous' IRENOSEN OKOJIE, STYLIST

'Will linger in your heart long after the final page. An absolute must-read' ABI DARÉ, author of The Girl With the Louding Voice

A delightful story set in Jamaica, amid heartbreak, hopefulness, and mirth CHARMAINE WILKERSON, author of Black Cake

---

For Pumkin Patterson, family is complicated.

Theres her mother Paulette, who ignores her. Theres her beloved Auntie Sophie, who her mother resents. And theres 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 years time. But in order to follow her aunt, Pumkin has a mountain to climb. Starting with the question of how shell 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 shes worked so hard for may slip through her fingers . . .

---

'A dazzling coming-of-age novel set in the 1990s with an unforgettable heroine' RED

'An ode to the families we create for ourselves . . . Pumkin is a wonderful main character you are willing to succeed' GLAMOUR

'A treat from start to finish' SARAH HAYWOOD, author of The Cactus

'I read this book with my heart in my mouth, hoping all of Pumkin's dreams would come true' BREANNE MC IVOR, author of The God of Good Looks

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

'A story so rich and resonant I never wanted it to end' JULIETTA HENDERSON, author of The Funny Thing About Norman Foreman

READERS ARE LOVING SWEETNESS IN THE SKIN

'This. Was. Amazing! I was hooked from the very first page.' Reader review

'Absolutely charming. I read it on one sitting, I just couldnt peel myself away from the story of Pumpkin!' Reader review

'I enjoyed reading it and was rooting for Pumkin to find her way on her journey to herself' Reader review

'Funny and heartwarming. Highly recommend adding to your wish list of books to read next year' Reader review

'I have not enjoyed a book as much as this for a VERY long time! This has everything for me that I want from a book' Reader review

Taking its title from the strangely frozen picture by the surrealist painter Giorgio de Chirico, The Enigma of Arrival tells the story of a young Indian from the Caribbean arriving in post-imperial England and consciously, over many years, finding himself as a writer. It is the story of a journey, from one place to another, from the British colony of Trinidad to the ancient countryside of England, and from one state of mind to another, and is perhaps V. S. Naipaul's most autobiographical work. Yet alongside this he weaves a rich and complex web of invention and observation.

Finding depth and pathos in the smallest moments - the death of a cottager, the firing of an estate's gardener - Naipaul also comprehends the bigger picture - watching as the old world is lost to the gradual but permanent changes wrought on the English landscape by the march of 'progress'.

'Written with the expected beauty of style . . . Instead of diminishing life, Naipaul ennobles it' Anthony Burgess, Observer

V. S. Naipaul was born in Trinidad in 1932. He came to England on a scholarship in 1950. He spent four years at University College, Oxford, and began to write, in London, in 1954. He pursued no other profession.

His novels include A House for Mr Biswas, The Mimic Men, Guerrillas, A Bend in the River, and The Enigma of Arrival. In 1971 he was awarded the Booker Prize for In a Free State. His works of nonfiction, equally acclaimed, include Among the Believers, Beyond Belief, The Masque of Africa, and a trio of books about India: An Area of Darkness, India: A Wounded Civilization and India: A Million Mutinies Now.

In 1990, V. S. Naipaul received a knighthood for services to literature; in 1993, he was the first recipient of the David Cohen British Literature Prize. He received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2001. He lived with his wife Nadira and cat Augustus in Wiltshire, and died in 2018.

A Way in the World is a vastly innovative novel exploring colonial inheritance through a series of narratives that span continents, swing back and forth between past and present and delve into both autobiography and fiction.

V. S. Naipaul offers a personal choice of examples of Spanish and British imperial history in the Caribbean, including an imagined vision of Raleigh's last expedition and an introduction to Francisco de Miranda, a would-be liberator and precursor to Bolivar, which are placed within a context of echoing modernity and framed by two more personal, heavily autobiographical sections sketching the narrator - an eloquent yet humble man of Indian descent who grew up in Trinidad but spent much of his adult life in England and Africa.

Meditative and dramatic, these historical reconstructions, imbued with Naipaul's acute perception, drawn with his deft and sensitive touch, and told in his beautifully wrought prose, are transmuted into an astonishing novel exploring the profound and mysterious effect of history on the individual.

V. S. Naipaul was born in Trinidad in 1932. He came to England on a scholarship in 1950. He spent four years at University College, Oxford, and began to write, in London, in 1954. He pursued no other profession.

His novels include A House for Mr Biswas, The Mimic Men, Guerrillas, A Bend in the River, and The Enigma of Arrival. In 1971 he was awarded the Booker Prize for In a Free State. His works of nonfiction, equally acclaimed, include Among the Believers, Beyond Belief, The Masque of Africa, and a trio of books about India: An Area of Darkness, India: A Wounded Civilization and India: A Million Mutinies Now.

In 1990, V. S. Naipaul received a knighthood for services to literature; in 1993, he was the first recipient of the David Cohen British Literature Prize. He received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2001. He lived with his wife Nadira and cat Augustus in Wiltshire, and died in 2018.