Corey Whaley, thank you for all the hours spent reading over Skype and for all the hours spent talking about everything and nothing at all.
Tessa Gratton, for pulling me out of the book-two black hole and for spending two weeks with me in a car and still loving me in the end.
Kristin Treviño (and everyone at Irving Public Library!), all that you do is incredible, and I am so thankful for every opportunity I’ve had to take part.
Jenny Martin, my hometown sweetheart. Thank you for always rooting for me.
Like Joe Cocker said, “I get by with a little help from my friends.” Katie Cotugno, Adam Silvera, Bethany Hagen, Jennifer Mathieu, Kristin Rae, Sarah Combs, Christa Desir, Michelle Krys, Amy Tintera, Kari Olson, Jen Bigheart, Caron Ervin, Preeti Chhibber, Stef Hoffman, Courtney Stevens, Ashley Meredith, John Stickney, Hayley Harris, Jeffrey Komaromi, and Asher Richardson. Every blogger, librarian, teacher, and reader. My Lone Star community, OneFour KidLit, #Lufkin6, the Fourteenery, and the Hanging Garden. Thank you all.
Mom, Dad, and Jill, thank you for always being my home and for believing in me and all my wild dreams.
Dolly Parton, for never apologizing for yourself and for every last song. Your music was the grease this book needed.
Ian, for loving me always.
The fat kids, the skinny kids, the tall ones, the short ones, and everybody in between: I am so thankful that not a single one of us is the exact same. What a boring world that would be.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photo by Christy Archibald
JULIE MURPHY lives in North Texas with her husband who loves her, her dog who adores her, and her cats who tolerate her. After several wonderful years in the library world, Julie now writes full-time. When she’s not writing or reliving her reference desk glory days, she can be found watching made-for-TV movies, hunting for the perfect slice of cheese pizza, and planning her next great travel adventure. Her acclaimed first novel is Side Effects May Vary.
You can visit Julie at www.juliemurphywrites.com.
Discover great authors, exclusive offers, and more at hc.com.
BOOKS BY JULIE MURPHY
Side Effects May Vary
Dumplin’
CREDITS
Cover art © 2015 by daniel stolle
Cover design by Aurora Parlagreco
COPYRIGHT
Balzer + Bray is an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
DUMPLIN’. Copyright © 2015 by Julie Murphy. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
www.epicreads.com
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Murphy, Julie, date
Dumplin’ / Julie Murphy. — First edition.
pages cm
ISBN 978-0-06-232718-5 (hardcover)
EPub Edition © August 2015 ISBN 9780062327208
[1. Overweight persons—Fiction. 2. Beauty contests—Fiction. 3. Dating (Social customs)—Fiction. 4. Friendship—Fiction. 5. Self-esteem—Fiction. 6. Texas—Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.M95352Dum 2015 2014041047
[Fic]—dc23 CIP
AC
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15 16 17 18 19 PC/RRDH 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
FIRST EDITION
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