First published 2006
Baby drags her dolls around in a beat-up suitcase, but at thirteen she already knows too much about the harsh realities of city life. Her father Jules cares more about his next heroin fix than feeding his daughter or keeping her safe. Baby survives by telling herself stories and grabbing onto any small moment of joy she can find. Her growing beauty catches the eye of a local pimp who controls a group of devoted young girls. This dangerous attention finally gets through to Jules, who usually notices nothing beyond his addiction. When Baby faces a choice that looks like betrayal but might be her only way out, she discovers that saving herself depends entirely on her own strength and cleverness.
Genres: fiction, addiction, crime, contemporary, adolescence, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, unreliable-narrator
Setting: City
Period: 20th-century
330 pages · Paperback · Harper Perennial
Content warnings: child-abuse, drug-use