Jo Ann Beard

With dry wit and piercing observation, Beard writes about the relationship between two teenage girls in the 1970s--misfits whose friendship is tested by their families' claims on them, by a clique of popular girls, and by the first startling, subversive intimations of womanhood.

A series of stories takes readers through one woman's life--from childhood to marriage and beyond--capturing the essence of growing up female and struggling to remain true to oneself.