Under the Skin

An inspiring story of a young asylum seeker’s struggle to build a new life with his family in Britain, told with wit and heart by beloved author Catherine MacPhail. At last, Omar's family are safe and have somewhere to live. But life in a new country isn't easy and life on the estate is proving even harder thanks to Sam. Sam's always there – in Omar's tower block, in his class, and in his face. He wants to push Omar around, but Omar's not giving up on his new life and he's ready to push back. Particularly suitable for readers aged 9+ with a reading age of 8.

An inspiring story of a young asylum seeker’s struggle to build a new life with his family in Britain, told with wit and heart by beloved author Catherine MacPhail. At last, Omar's family are safe and have somewhere to live. But life in a new country isn't easy and life on the estate is proving even harder thanks to Sam. Sam's always there – in Omar's tower block, in his class, and in his face. He wants to push Omar around, but Omar's not giving up on his new life and he's ready to push back. Particularly suitable for readers aged 9+ with a reading age of 8.

With an introduction by David Mitchell Isserley spends most of her time driving. But why is she so interested in picking up hitchhikers? And why are they always male, well-built and alone? An utterly unpredictable and macabre mystery, Under the Skin is a genre-defying masterpiece.

With an introduction by David Mitchell Isserley spends most of her time driving. But why is she so interested in picking up hitchhikers? And why are they always male, well-built and alone? An utterly unpredictable and macabre mystery, Under the Skin is a genre-defying masterpiece.

NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF 2022 BY THE NEW YORK TIMES The first book to tell the full story of race and health in America today, showing the toll racism takes on individuals and the health of the nation. In the US, Black people have poorer health outcomes than white people at every stage of their lives: Black babies are more than twice as likely as white babies to die at birth or in the first year of life; Blacks in every age-group under sixty-five have significantly higher death rates than whites. Racial disparities in healthcare are impossible to ignore, and yet they have never been fully investigated until now. In Under the Skin , Linda Villarosa reveals the elements in the American healthcare system and society that cause Black people to ‘live sicker and die quicker’. Today’s medical texts and instruments still carry slavery-era assumptions that Black bodies are fundamentally different from white bodies. Study after study of medical settings show worse treatment and outcomes for Black patients. Black people live in dirtier, more polluted communities due to environmental racism. And, most powerfully, Villarosa describes how coping with the daily scourge of racism ages Black people prematurely, a phenomenon called weathering. Anchored by human stories and offering incontrovertible proof, Under the Skin is dramatic, tragic, and necessary reading. ‘A searing indictment of a broken health system in the age of American decline.’ New Statesman ‘Villarosa’s empathic and sharp-sighted journalism is as astute as it is groundbreaking, as brilliant as it is timely. Let the conversations begin!’ Jacqueline Woodson, New York Times bestselling author of Red at the Bone

NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF 2022 BY THE NEW YORK TIMES The first book to tell the full story of race and health in America today, showing the toll racism takes on individuals and the health of the nation. In the US, Black people have poorer health outcomes than white people at every stage of their lives: Black babies are more than twice as likely as white babies to die at birth or in the first year of life; Blacks in every age-group under sixty-five have significantly higher death rates than whites. Racial disparities in healthcare are impossible to ignore, and yet they have never been fully investigated until now. In Under the Skin , Linda Villarosa reveals the elements in the American healthcare system and society that cause Black people to ‘live sicker and die quicker’. Today’s medical texts and instruments still carry slavery-era assumptions that Black bodies are fundamentally different from white bodies. Study after study of medical settings show worse treatment and outcomes for Black patients. Black people live in dirtier, more polluted communities due to environmental racism. And, most powerfully, Villarosa describes how coping with the daily scourge of racism ages Black people prematurely, a phenomenon called weathering. Anchored by human stories and offering incontrovertible proof, Under the Skin is dramatic, tragic, and necessary reading. ‘A searing indictment of a broken health system in the age of American decline.’ New Statesman ‘Villarosa’s empathic and sharp-sighted journalism is as astute as it is groundbreaking, as brilliant as it is timely. Let the conversations begin!’ Jacqueline Woodson, New York Times bestselling author of Red at the Bone

Alessandra Lemma - Winner of the Levy-Goldfarb Award for Child Psychoanalysis! Under the Skin considers the motivation behind why people pierce, tattoo, cosmetically enhance, or otherwise modify their body, from a psychoanalytic perspective. It discusses how the therapist can understand and help individuals for whom the manipulation of the body is felt to be psychically necessary, regardless of whether the process of modification causes pain. In this book, psychoanalyst Alessandra Lemma draws on her work in the consulting room, as well as films, fiction, art and clinical research to suggest that the motivation for extensively modifying the surface of the body, and being excessively preoccupied with its appearance, comes from the person’s internal world – under their skin. Topics covered include: body image disturbance appearance anxiety body dysmorphic disorder the psychological function of cosmetic surgery, tattooing, piercing, and scarification. Under the Skin provides a detailed study of the challenges posed by our embodied nature through an exploration of the unconscious phantasies that underlie the need for body modification, making it essential reading for all clinicians working with those who are preoccupied with their appearance and modify their bodies including psychotherapists, counsellors, psychiatrists and psychologists.

Alessandra Lemma - Winner of the Levy-Goldfarb Award for Child Psychoanalysis! Under the Skin considers the motivation behind why people pierce, tattoo, cosmetically enhance, or otherwise modify their body, from a psychoanalytic perspective. It discusses how the therapist can understand and help individuals for whom the manipulation of the body is felt to be psychically necessary, regardless of whether the process of modification causes pain. In this book, psychoanalyst Alessandra Lemma draws on her work in the consulting room, as well as films, fiction, art and clinical research to suggest that the motivation for extensively modifying the surface of the body, and being excessively preoccupied with its appearance, comes from the person’s internal world – under their skin. Topics covered include: body image disturbance appearance anxiety body dysmorphic disorder the psychological function of cosmetic surgery, tattooing, piercing, and scarification. Under the Skin provides a detailed study of the challenges posed by our embodied nature through an exploration of the unconscious phantasies that underlie the need for body modification, making it essential reading for all clinicians working with those who are preoccupied with their appearance and modify their bodies including psychotherapists, counsellors, psychiatrists and psychologists.