Florida Babys

From the author of Oprah's Book Club pick and New York Times best seller Nightcrawling, here is an astonishing new novel about the joys and entanglements of a fierce group of teenage mothers in a small town on the Florida panhandle.<BR><BR>Adela is sixteen years old. When she tells her parents she's pregnant, they send her from their home in Indiana to her grandmother’s in Padua Beach, Florida, "a town built on y’all bein good now? and babies havin babies, said in the rasp of a loud whisper in the back of a church." There, Adela meets Emory, who has a baby of her own she brings to high school, strapped to her chest; and Simone, ringleader of “the Girls,” a group of teenage mothers who hang out with their growing brood in the back of her red truck—dancing defiantly, breastfeeding, watching the kids and having each other's backs. The town thinks they've lost their way, but really they are finding it: looking for love, making and breaking friendships, navigating the miracle of motherhood and the paradox of girlhood. But before long they will find themselves on a collision course with one another.<BR><BR>Full of heart and life and hope, set against shifting sands of power and betrayal, The Girls Who Grew Big confirms Leila Mottley's promise and offers an explosive new perspective on what it means to be a young woman.

AMAZON BEST PICK OF THE YEAR<BR><BR>LONGLISTED FOR THE 2025 CARNEGIE MEDAL FOR EXCELLENCE IN FICTION<BR><BR>-<BR><BR>'Written in big, beautiful prose that expands throughout the novel and leaves the reader full and satisfied ... Leila Mottley's grasp of human nature is unmatched' CANDICE CARTY-WILLIAMS<BR><BR>From the author of the Booker nominated, international bestseller Nightcrawling: a novel about the joys and entanglements of a fierce group of teenage mothers in a Florida beach town.<BR><BR>When Adela Woods tells her parents she's pregnant, they immediately send her a thousand miles away to stay with her grandmother in Padua Beach. The intention is that she will leave her baby in 'the forgotten Panhandle of Florida'. and resume her suburban life nine months later as though nothing happened. But Adela's plans are soon washed away by the tide.<BR><BR>First, Adela meets Emory, a new mother determined to defy the expectations of everyone around her, returning to high school with her newborn baby strapped to her chest. Then she meets Simone, ringleader of 'the Girls,' a group of young mothers who create a village together in the back of her red truck-dancing, breastfeeding, raising their children and themselves.<BR><BR>The town thinks they've lost their way. Really, they are finding it.<BR><BR>But as they look for love, make and break friendships, navigate the miracle of motherhood and the paradox of girlhood, Adela, Emory and Simone also find themselves on an inescapable collision course with one another.<BR><BR>A novel full of heart and life and hope, set against the shifting sands of secrets and betrayals, The Girls Who Grew Big offers an explosive new perspective on what it means to be a young woman, a daughter, and a mother.<BR><BR>'Opens up the world of young mothers in its makeshift, sticky, struggling glory ... Sensuous, gripping and utterly believable' EMMA DONOGHUE

LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2022 - THE YOUNGEST EVER BOOKER NOMINEE<BR>THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER<BR>_______________<BR><BR>'Mottley attempts to do for Oakland something of what The Wire did for Baltimore' THE TIMES<BR>'A soul-searching portrait of survival and hope' OPRAH WINFREY<BR>_______________<BR><BR>We'll laugh because we can, until the sun disintegrates and nighttime threatens to set us free just to capture us again, back into the things we can't escape.<BR><BR>Kiara does not know what it is to live as a normal seventeen-year-old. With her mother in a halfway house, she fends for herself - and for nine-year-old Trevor, whose own mother disappears for days at a time. But as the pressures of rent to pay and mouths to feed increase, Kiara finds herself walking the streets after dark, determined to survive in a world that refuses to protect her.<BR><BR>Nightcrawling is an unforgettable novel about young people navigating the darkest corners of an adult world, told with a humanity that is at once agonising and utterly mesmerising.<BR>_______________<BR><BR>'UNFORGETTABLE' GUARDIAN<BR>'A MAGNIFICENT DEBUT' RUTH OZEKI, winner of the Women's Prize for Fiction 2022<BR>_______________<BR><BR>READERS CAN'T GET ENOUGH OF NIGHTCRAWLING<BR><BR>'Nightcrawling is a lyrical masterpiece' *****<BR><BR>'This book ripped my heart out' *****<BR><BR>'Unputdownable . . . From the first page I was hooked' *****<BR><BR>'This is a heart-achingly necessary book which will carve a hole in your soul and stay with you forever' ***** <BR><BR>'It is rare to read a first novel so perfectly crafted' *****<BR><BR>'This is an absolute must-read. Five stars out of five' *****<BR><BR>'Completely gripping . . . This is going to be a huge bestseller' *****

'Written in big, beautiful prose that expands throughout the novel and leaves the reader full and satisfied ... Leila Mottley's grasp of human nature is unmatched' CANDICE CARTY-WILLIAMS<BR><BR>-<BR><BR>From the author of the Booker nominated, international bestseller Nightcrawling.<BR><BR>Adela, Emory, and Simone - three young women bound by chance, motherhood, and defiance.<BR><BR>When Adela Woods is sent to her grandmother's house in a forgotten Florida beach town to have her baby in secret, she expects to return home unchanged. Instead, she meets Emory, who is determined to finish school even if it means going to class with her newborn strapped to her chest. Then she meets Simone, the fearless ringleader of "the Girls," a tribe of young mothers raising themselves alongside their children.<BR><BR>The town thinks they've lost their way. Really, they're finding it - through friendship, love, and heartbreak under the relentless Florida sun.<BR><BR>But when shifting loyalties give way to betrayal, will the ties holding them together come apart?<BR><BR>A novel full of heart and life and hope, set against the shifting sands of secrets and betrayals, The Girls Who Grew Big offers an explosive new perspective on what it means to be a young woman, a daughter, and a mother.<BR><BR>'Opens up the world of young mothers in its makeshift, sticky, struggling glory ... Sensuous, gripping and utterly believable' EMMA DONOGHUE

NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • AN OPRAH BOOK CLUB PICK • A dazzling novel about a young Black woman who walks the streets of Oakland and stumbles headlong into the failure of its justice system. This debut of a blazingly original voice “bursts at the seams of every page and swallows you whole” (Tommy Orange, author of There There).<BR><BR>A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The New Yorker, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, TIME, GOODREADS<BR><BR>Kiara and her brother, Marcus, are scraping by in an East Oakland apartment complex optimistically called the Regal-Hi. Both have dropped out of high school, their family fractured by death and prison<BR><BR>But while Marcus clings to his dream of rap stardom, Kiara hunts for work to pay their rent—which has more than doubled—and to keep the nine-year-old boy next door, abandoned by his mother, safe and fed. One night, what begins as a drunken misunderstanding with a stranger turns into the job Kiara never imagined wanting but now desperately needs: nightcrawling. Her world breaks open even further when her name surfaces in an investigation that exposes her as a key witness in a massive scandal within the Oakland Police Department.<BR><BR>Rich with raw beauty, electrifying intensity, and piercing vulnerability, Nightcrawling marks the stunning arrival of a voice unlike any we have heard before.

Ein Roman über die schlimmsten Seiten einer Gesellschaft und den Kampf einer jungen Frau für alle, die sie liebtDie siebzehnjährige Kiara lebt mit ihrem älteren Bruder Marcus in einem heruntergekommenen Apartment in East Oakland, Kalifornien. Die beiden Geschwister haben die Highschool ohne Abschluss verlassen und sind ohne ihre Eltern auf sich allein gestellt. Kiara versucht verzweifelt, Arbeit zu finden, um die Miete zu bezahlen. Doch niemand gibt einer Minderjährigen einen Job. So landet sie schließlich in der Prostitution. Ihr einziger Lichtblick ist der zehnjährige Nachbarssohn Trevor, um den sie sich hingebungsvoll kümmert. Bis ihr Name im Rahmen eines Skandalprozesses gegen die Polizei genannt wird. Sagt Kiara dort aus, wird sie alle in Gefahr bringen, die sie liebt ...„Leila Mottley beschreibt die brutalste, herzerweichendste Realität mit der Empfindsamkeit einer Poetin. Das ist ein elektrisierendes Debüt."<BR> -Dave Eggers, Autor von Every„Das wird eines der großen Bücher von 2022."<BR>-Stylist (UK)„Leila Mottleys Sprache rüttelt auf und fließt wie heiße Lava, beschreibt wunderbar intelligent ein Oakland mit seiner unkontrollierbaren städtischen Leuchtkraft … Nachtschwärmerin, jede Seite zum Bersten gefüllt, muss man einfach verschlingen."<BR> -Tommy Orange, NYT Bestseller-Autor von Dort dort„Mit seiner kraftvollen Poesie und einer mutigen, schonungslosen Sichtweise ist Nachtschwärmerin mehr als nur ein hervorragender Debütroman. Es ist der Beitrag dieser begabten jungen Autorin, eine kaputte Welt zu heilen."<BR>-Ruth Ozeki, Bestseller-Autorin von The Book of Form and Emptiness„Leila Mottleys eindrucksvolles Debüt, inspiriert von den Erlebnissen einer jungen Frau, die um ihren Körper und ihre Seele kämpft und sich vor verzehrender Ausbeutung zu schützen versucht, ist feurig und verschlingend, voller elektrisierender Dringlichkeit, geschrieben von einer jungen wahnsinnig talentierten Autorin."<BR> -Ayana Mathis, NYT Bestseller-Autorin von Zwölf Leben„Während die Geschichte von sexueller Gewalt, Polizei-Korruption und vorurteilsbelasteter Rechtsprechung von authentischen Begebenheiten in Oakland inspiriert wurde, ist es Kiaras intensives, schmerzvolles Erleben, beschrieben in einer wunderbaren poetischen Sprache, das diese unterprivilegierte Gesellschaft antreibt und ausgebeutete Frauen dazu bringt, schlicht um ihr Überleben zu kämpfen … Die scharfsinnigen Beobachtungen sind umso bemerkenswerter, wenn man bedenkt, dass die Autorin selbst ein chancenreicher Oakland-Teenager ist. Plot, shmot - kurz gesagt, das hier ist eine ereignisreiche, intensiv geschriebene Story, so erbarmungslos real, dass es die Seele eines Mädchens erschüttert."<BR> -Kirkus Reviews *starred review*

A poignant, rousing debut book of poetry, full of life, from the former Youth Poet Laureate of Oakland, California<BR><BR>woke up no light is a Black girl’s saunter turned to a woman’s defiant strut. These are the hymns of a new generation of poetry. Young, alive, yearning. A mouth swung open and ready to devour. A quest for home in a world that knows only wasteland and wanting.<BR><BR>Moving in sections from “girlhood” to “neighborhood” to “falsehood” to, finally, “womanhood,” these poems reckon with themes of reparations, restitution, and desire. The collection is sharp and raw, wise and rhythmic, a combination that lights up each page. From unearthing histories to searching for ways to dream of a future in a world constantly on the brink of disaster, this young poet sets forth personal and political revelation with piercing detail.<BR><BR>woke up no light confirms Leila Mottley’s arrival and demonstrates the enduring power of her voice—brave and distinctive and thoroughly her own.