The Girls Who Grew Big

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

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 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