Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson - Women's Prize Longlisted Fiction - Hardback

Condition: New
Format: Hardback
ISBN: 9781474616430
Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson

Overview:
Red at the Bone is Jacqueline Woodson's acclaimed adult novel, a taut, lyrical story that moves backward and forward across two generations to trace how a single unexpected pregnancy reshapes two Brooklyn families. Longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2020 and a New York Times bestseller, it explores class, race, ambition and legacy with rare emotional precision. Perfect for readers of literary fiction, book clubs, and anyone drawn to intimate, multi-generational family stories told with poetic restraint and quiet power.

About the Book:
Opening on the day of sixteen-year-old Melody's coming-of-age ceremony in a Brooklyn brownstone, Red at the Bone unravels backwards and forwards in time to reveal the history that brought her family to this moment. At its centre is an unplanned teenage pregnancy that binds together two families from very different social worlds — one working-class and rooted in tradition, the other more affluent and educated — each carrying its own hopes, wounds and unspoken tensions. Woodson moves fluidly between voices and decades, from the long shadow of the Tulsa race massacre to the September 11th attacks, showing how history, class and race quietly shape individual choices across generations. The novel is spare in length but dense in feeling, told in short, charged chapters that read almost like verse. Themes of motherhood, ambition, sacrifice and belonging recur throughout, as characters wrestle with the gap between the lives they imagined and the ones they were given. It rewards close, attentive reading, drawing comparison to Woodson's celebrated body of work for its clarity, compassion and lyrical control. Widely praised on publication, it earned a place on the Women's Prize for Fiction longlist and became a New York Times bestseller, cementing Woodson's reputation as one of today's finest literary voices on family, race and identity.

Key Benefits:

• Longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2020 and a New York Times bestseller.
• Beautifully written, character-driven literary fiction ideal for book clubs and reading groups.
• Explores race, class, family legacy and belonging with lyrical, economical prose.
• A satisfying, compact read — substantial in feeling despite its shorter length.
• Durable hardback edition, perfect for gifting or a treasured personal library.

About the Author:
Jacqueline Woodson is an acclaimed American author of books for both young people and adults. She has won the National Book Award, multiple Newbery Honors, and the Coretta Scott King Award, and served as the National Ambassador for Young People's Literature. Her adult novels, including Red at the Bone and Another Brooklyn, have been widely celebrated for their lyrical prose and unflinching exploration of race, class and identity, establishing her as one of contemporary American literature's most important and versatile voices.

Why You'll Love This Novel:
A quietly devastating, beautifully crafted story of family, ambition and legacy, Red at the Bone offers rich emotional depth in a compact, immersive read — perfect for literary fiction fans and book clubs alike.

Please Note: Ships as the UK edition with the ISBN and cover shown.