https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/jan/18/jacqueline-woodson-its-important-to-know-that-whatever-moment-were-in-its-not-the-first-time

With more than 30 children’s books to her name and Judy Blume and the Obamas as fans, the US bestseller has written a book for adults. She explains why

Author Jacqueline Woodson lives in a quintessential Brooklyn brownstone with her partner, two children, a cat and two huge, friendly dogs. A similar house is at the centre of her new novel, Red at the Bone, representing the struggle of a multigenerational black family to honour its past and stand firm against change.

The novel opens in 2001, as 16-year-old Melody descends the stairs in a debutante’s traditional white dress. An orchestra is playing the Prince song she’s insisted on, against her mother’s wishes, while white passersby stop and gawk through the windows. Her coming-of-age party is a declaration of family pride, class status, and an effort to repair a broken link with the past, when Melody’s mother, Iris, skipped her own ceremony after becoming pregnant at 15. The novel explores this rift and its consequences over time, shifting between the perspectives of different family members and offering unusual narrative freedom for Woodson, who writes primarily for younger readers. “With adults, you can play around with time,’” she says. “I have a much larger canvas.”