Jennifer Neal Boeken

Winner of the Vulgar Geniuses Award, this debut novel intertwines Florida kitsch with magical realism, focusing on a young Black and Indigenous woman who learns to change the color of her skin. Gabrielle's relationship with her mother, Tallulah, is complex, shaped by intimacy and resilience against a volatile patriarch. Their home is dominated by a cold white aesthetic, from the cupboards to the food, and Gabrielle is pressured to pass into whiteness to avoid upsetting her father. The bond between mother and daughter shatters when Tallulah faces a mental health crisis, forcing Gabrielle to navigate her identity and control her color shifts independently for the first time. During a year after high school, Gabrielle immerses herself in piano lessons, an endeavor her father believes will enhance her pre-med applications. Her instructor, Dominique, a queer, dark-skinned woman, embodies the creativity and confidence Gabrielle craves, offering a nurturing love she lacks at home. As Gabrielle seeks a life beyond her family’s constraints, this lushly written tale explores how love can serve as a liberating force, breaking free from destructive origins.

'It wasn't long before my wet and sticky fascination with life beyond the walls of our home could be read all over my face like soot'Gabrielle has inherited the ability to change the colour of her skin from her mother, Tallulah. They guard their power carefully within the walls of a home that's been bleached completely white. This is the doing of Gabrielle's father, Robert. After battling his executive-level colleagues all day at the office as a man of colour, he needs everything in his house to be white - including his wife and daughter.This is a house with secrets. Robert does not know that Talullah keeps a rainbow of spices stored in baggies and sewn into the lining of her handbag. Nor does he know that when he's away, Gabrielle and Tallulah let their skin pass through a spectrum of bright, dark, rebellious colours. But when Gabrielle discovers a love for the piano, she also finds she can change her skin, and find joy and acceptance, without her mother nearby. Gabrielle is learning of a world beyond her family's carefully-coded existence, and her mother is watching.The Colour of Her Blood is a novel where the strange and surreal meets the kitsch of Florida as it explores the dynamic of a family traumatised by racial violence in North America. It's a glittering, corrosive, witty tale about race, privilege, music and queerness.At its heart, it's a story about a mother, told by her daughter