Big Girl is a powerful and moving novel about a queer Black girl growing up in rapidly gentrifying 90s Harlem, facing family tragedy and learning to take up space in the world. It has been shortlisted for several prestigious awards and has received critical acclaim from authors such as Candice Carty-Williams, Jacqueline Woodson, Nicole Dennis-Benn, and Kiese Laymon.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 272 pages
Publication date: 13 June 2024
Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group

A BBC RADIO 2 BOOKCLUB PICK

SHORTLISTED FOR THE CENTRE FOR FICTION FIRST NOVEL PRIZE, THE GOTHAM BOOK PRIZE AND THE LAMBDA AWARD

Absolutely incredible. Beautiful, powerful writing. These pages will stay with me forever

CANDICE CARTY-WILLIAMS, author of QUEENIE

A gift as big, beautiful and complicated as living itself

Jacqueline Woodson, author of RED AT THE BONE

Hilariously funny and quietly devastating

Nicole Dennis-Benn, author of PATSY and HERE COMES THE SUN

There are three books on earth that I would give anything to be able to write and reread until the suns burns us up.

Big Girl

is one of those books

Kiese Laymon, author of HEAVY

Growing up in rapidly gentrifying 90s Harlem,

Malaya struggles to fit into a world that makes no room for her. She's funny, creative and smart, but all people see - even those who love her - is her size. At eight, she is forced to go to Weight Watchers; at twelve, her parents fear she'll be taken from them; by sixteen, a gastric bypass is discussed.

But tensions at home are mounting as rapidly as Malaya's weight, and soon a family tragedy forces her to finally face the source of her hunger on her own terms...

An extraordinary debut novel shot through with remarkable nuance and tenderness,

Big Girl

is the unforgettable portrait of a queer Black girl as she learns to take up space in the world.

Weight: 218g
Dimension: 126 x 198 x 21 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780349017860