The Loosening Skin by Aliya Whitely
In Aliya Whitley’s The Loosening Skin, humans periodically shed their skin along with the emotions and identities embedded in them, to varying degrees. For the novel’s protagonist, Rose Allington, the effects of this process are extreme: she is always driven to leave her life and her loves behind. This literal molting process explores the transient and permanent aspects of self, of love, and of our own histories. It is sparse, engaging, strange, and deeply affecting. — Brooks
