The Penguin Podcast is back! Listen Now
Sugar

Sugar

Summary

Sugar is young, confident and hoping to start over.

'Poignant and bittersweet, this novel is a joy' Richard & Judy

When she arrives in the southern town of Bigelow, it isn’t long before the neighbourhood is alight with gossip and suspicion. Sugar fears her past is catching up with her. Then she meets Pearl, a woman trying to forget her own trauma. As these next-door neighbours become unlikely friends, they wonder if their lives could finally be changing for the better. But small towns have long memories.

Perfect for fans of Demon Copperhead and The Bluest Eye, Sugar is a classic waiting to be rediscovered.

'Riveting... Searing and expertly imagined' TONI MORRISON on The Warmest December by Bernice L. McFadden

'A page-turning novel guaranteed to be looked back on as a timeless classic'
INDEPENDENT

'This book is so engaging and beautiful and intriguing and satisfying that I could not put it down' ELLE

Readers are falling for Sugar

'Such an enjoyable read... beautifully written, raw and impactful'
'Riveting, heart-breaking'
'Very powerful, poignant'
'Beautifully written... brutal and moving... a must read book'
'Well-written with rich characters and many twists and turns'
'So descriptive yet easy to read, and it made me fall in love with all the characters'

Richard and Judy Book Club Pick, Autumn 2021

About the author

Bernice L. McFadden

BERNICE L. McFADDEN is the bestselling and award-winning author of Richard & Judy Book Club pick Sugar, and eight other novels. She's won the American Book Award, the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work, has been featured in O, The Oprah Magazine and is a four-time Hurston/Wright Legacy Award finalist, as well as the recipient of three awards from the BCALA. She lives in Brooklyn, New York. Firstborn Girls is her first memoir.
Learn More

Sign up to the Penguin Newsletter

For the latest books, recommendations, author interviews and more