Skin Deep is about the unusual young woman who answers this ad. Martha Ward is twenty -eight, an ex-topless waitress, and part-time mother of an eight-year-old. She drives to Malibu for her new job and discovers she must dress entirely in blue --body, hand, hair, even face, completely covered-- and talk to a man named Dr. Hamilton. He wants to talk about beauty.

This startling novel depicts the compelling and poignant story of a young woman's obsession with her looks. Defining herself by the reactions of the various and unforgettable men in her life --her father who speaks only in aphorisms and platitudes, her pyromanical stepfather, her dramatically different boyfriend-- Martha becomes more an more absorbed in the demands of being physically attractive. Through their eyes, she begins to see her life of solitude and independence as one of lonliness and desperate routine.

Only in her nig