Overview

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. 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. 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. The town thinks they've lost their way. Really, they are finding it. 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.

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9780241705513

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Reviews

Mottley is a dazzling writer and this novel opens up the world of young mothers in all its makeshift, sticky, struggling glory. The Girls Who Grew Big is sensuous, gripping, and utterly believable * Emma Donoghue * This broken world is lucky to have Leila Mottley writing in it ... Mottley is the real deal—a vital voice in the American literary tapestry, giving us a full, empathetic understanding of the parts of life the rest of culture tells us to ignore. * Kaitlyn Greenidge, author of Libertie * With impeccable and breathtaking prose, Mottley takes us into the treacherous terrain where girlhood and womanhood collide ... The Girls live out loud and are flawed, tender, and absolutely unforgettable. Mottley continues to show us the power and beauty of her pen! * Deesha Philyaw, author of The Secret Lives of Church Ladies * Raw, wild, and achingly beautiful, The Girls Who Grew Big is one of the most spiritually accurate and electric portrayals of motherhood I’ve ever read. Leila Mottley is the real deal * Rufi Thorpe, author of Margo's Got Money Troubles * Mottley writes with a lyrical abandon * The New York Times Book Review, praise for Nightcrawling * Searing ... An intimate portrait of a young black woman searching for autonomy and fulfillment * The New Yorker, praise for Nightcrawling * Revelatory ... My god - that voice * The Washington Post, praise for Nightcrawling * Marks the dazzling arrival of a young writer with a voice and vision you won't easily get out of your head * Guardian, praise for Nightcrawling * Uncommonly assured debut . . . Written with a poet's ear and a novelist's sense of character, structure and ambience * Observer, praise for Nightcrawling * Mottley's fluid, instinctive writing soars . . . A remarkable debut . . . It is exciting to wonder what might lie ahead for this writer * The Times, praise for Nightcrawling *

This broken world is lucky to have Leila Mottley writing in it. Like Jesmyn Ward, Kiese Laymon and Toni Cade Bambara before her, Mottley digs deep into the parts of America that many tell us to forget. In gorgeous prose, she brings to life the beauty and brutality of the Florida panhandle, and turns narratives about motherhood, girlhood and the South on their heads. Mottley is the real deal—a vital voice in the American literary tapestry, giving us a full, empathetic understanding of the parts of life the rest of culture tells us to ignore. * Kaitlyn Greenidge, author of Libertie * The Girls Who Grew Big is a novel about teen pregnancy that brilliantly upends every reductive trope and platitude on the subject. With impeccable and breathtaking prose, Mottley takes us into the treacherous terrain where girlhood and womanhood collide, and where families and friendships fracture, and the lines between them blur. Simone, Adela, Emory and The Girls live out loud and are flawed, tender, and absolutely unforgettable. Mottley continues to show us the power and beauty of her pen! * Deesha Philyaw, author of The Secret Lives of Church Ladies * Mottley writes with a lyrical abandon * The New York Times Book Review, praise for Nightcrawling * Searing ... An intimate portrait of a young black woman searching for autonomy and fulfillment * The New Yorker, praise for Nightcrawling * Revelatory ... My god - that voice * The Washington Post, praise for Nightcrawling * Marks the dazzling arrival of a young writer with a voice and vision you won't easily get out of your head * Guardian, praise for Nightcrawling * Uncommonly assured debut . . . Written with a poet's ear and a novelist's sense of character, structure and ambience * Observer, praise for Nightcrawling * Mottley's fluid, instinctive writing soars . . . A remarkable debut . . . It is exciting to wonder what might lie ahead for this writer * The Times, praise for Nightcrawling * The risks she takes generally pay off so well that one finishes the book grumbling: nobody who has just turned twenty has any business writing this well * Sunday Telegraph, praise for Nightcrawling * Leila Mottley has a poet's delicate touch when she tells us the most brutal, heart-crushing truths . . . Electrifying * Dave Eggers, praise for Nightcrawling *

This broken world is lucky to have Leila Mottley writing in it ... Mottley is the real deal—a vital voice in the American literary tapestry, giving us a full, empathetic understanding of the parts of life the rest of culture tells us to ignore. * Kaitlyn Greenidge, author of Libertie * With impeccable and breathtaking prose, Mottley takes us into the treacherous terrain where girlhood and womanhood collide ... The Girls live out loud and are flawed, tender, and absolutely unforgettable. Mottley continues to show us the power and beauty of her pen! * Deesha Philyaw, author of The Secret Lives of Church Ladies * Mottley writes with a lyrical abandon * The New York Times Book Review, praise for Nightcrawling * Searing ... An intimate portrait of a young black woman searching for autonomy and fulfillment * The New Yorker, praise for Nightcrawling * Revelatory ... My god - that voice * The Washington Post, praise for Nightcrawling * Marks the dazzling arrival of a young writer with a voice and vision you won't easily get out of your head * Guardian, praise for Nightcrawling * Uncommonly assured debut . . . Written with a poet's ear and a novelist's sense of character, structure and ambience * Observer, praise for Nightcrawling * Mottley's fluid, instinctive writing soars . . . A remarkable debut . . . It is exciting to wonder what might lie ahead for this writer * The Times, praise for Nightcrawling * The risks she takes generally pay off so well that one finishes the book grumbling: nobody who has just turned twenty has any business writing this well * Sunday Telegraph, praise for Nightcrawling * Leila Mottley has a poet's delicate touch when she tells us the most brutal, heart-crushing truths . . . Electrifying * Dave Eggers, praise for Nightcrawling *

Author Information

Leila Mottley's first novel, Nightcrawling, was a New York Times bestseller, an Oprah's Book Club pick, and its longlisting made Leila the youngest ever Booker Prize nominee. She is the author of the poetry collection woke up no light, and was the 2018 Oakland Youth Poet Laureate. She was born and raised in Oakland, California, where she continues to live.

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