The Torn Skirt

The Torn Skirt
Author: Rebecca Godfrey
Publisher: Harper Collins
Total Pages: 228
Release: 2010-05-04
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0061909157

“The Torn Skirt is a hot book, a thrilling romance of teen rage and longing—like S. E. Hinton’s The Outsiders, except about girls.” —Mary Gaitskill, author of Two Girls, Fat and Thin At Mt. Douglas (a.k.a. Mt. Drug) High, all the girls have feathered hair, and the sweet scent of Love’s Baby Soft can’t hide the musk of raw teenage anger, apathy, and desire. Sara Shaw is a girl full of fever and longing, a girl looking for something risky, something real. Her only possible salvation comes in the willowy form of the mysterious Justine, the outlaw girl in the torn skirt. The search for Justine will lead Sara on a daring odyssey into an underworld of hookers and johns, junkies and thieves, runaway girls and skater boys, and, ultimately, into a violent tragedy. “I loved and believed the narrative of a sixteen-year-old mind—immature, abandoned, and yet exploding. It came from a heartfelt and true perception, an authentic writer’s desire. Which made it rock.” —Thurston Moore, Sonic Youth “Imagine William S. Burroughs with a social conscience . . . An exhilarating, surreal, and dreamlike trip through the passionate teenage heart.” —The Globe and Mail “Teenage angst gets a surprisingly honest and effective rendering from a bright new voice . . . Giving witness yet again to the self-created drama of adolescence: a serious bullet of a book.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review) “Godfrey’s prose is atmospheric, rhythmic, and filled with spot-on details . . . This first novel is at its best when sharply observing teenage disgust with adult behavior and the roots of young women’s rage.” —Booklist

Under the Bridge

Under the Bridge
Author: Rebecca Godfrey
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 480
Release: 2009-09-29
Genre: True Crime
ISBN: 1439184119

*Now a Hulu limited series starring Lily Gladstone, Riley Keough, and Archie Panjabi!* “A swift, harrowing classic perfect for these unnerving times.” —Jenny Offill, author of Dept. of Speculation One moonlit night, fourteen-year-old Reena Virk went to join friends at a party and never returned home. In this “tour de force of crime reportage” (Kirkus Reviews), acclaimed author Rebecca Godfrey takes us into the hidden world of the seven teenage girls—and boy—accused of a savage murder. As she follows the investigation and trials, Godfrey reveals the startling truth about the unlikely killers. Laced with lyricism and insight, Under the Bridge is an unforgettable look at a haunting modern tragedy.

Torn Skirt

Torn Skirt
Author: Rebecca Godfrey
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Total Pages: 224
Release: 2005-10-24
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9780006395867

Sara's world is circa 1984, Victoria, B.C., Canada's prettiest city.But over at Mt. Douglas (a.k.a. Mt.Drug)High, all the girls have feathered hair, and the sweet scent of Love's Baby Soft can't hide the musk of raw teenage anger, apathy and desire. Sara longs to leave her stoner boyfriend and pothead father -- maybe she could move to New York and become a model, like the glossy, good girls in fashion magazines.But her only salvation comes in the willowy form of the mysterious Justine -- the girl in the torn skirt.Pulled by this spectral figure, Sara sets off on a feverish, frenetic odyssey into Victoria's underworld of hookers and johns, junkies and thieves, runaway girls and skater boys, and ultimately a violent tragedy. The Torn Skirt is one of the most provocative, original, and brilliantly energetic coming-of-age novels to appear in a long time.First-time novelist Rebecca Godfrey gives voice to a young woman who careens between defiance and vulnerability, between street smart and naive, possessed by a spirit that flashes from stony deadness to unabashed hope. The Torn Skirt offers a small town adolescent world rarely seen -- dark and restless, often brutally funny, and laced iwth the fear of not fitting in, of feeling too much pain, of feeling no pain at all.A lyrical, word-perfect story that soars with an honest understanding of the teenage condition, The Torn Skirt is a powerful new piece of literary fiction.

Under the Bridge

Under the Bridge
Author: Michael B. Harmon
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers
Total Pages: 274
Release: 2012-11-13
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 0375866469

Wearing a police wire, a skateboarding street boy from Spokane confronts the drug dealer who threatens to kill his brother.

Nothing Can Hurt You

Nothing Can Hurt You
Author: Nicola Maye Goldberg
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Total Pages: 246
Release: 2020-06-23
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1635574897

BEST BOOKS OF SUMMER 2020 - PEOPLE MAGAZINE, VOGUE, CNN, REFINERY29, CRIMEREADS, and more “Captivating, serpentine, and affecting.” -Megan Abbott “A gothic Olive Kitteridge mixed with Gillian Flynn . . . Masterful.” -Vogue “Fascinating.” -Sarah Lyall, New York Times Book Review “Gripping and tremendously searing.” -Leslie Jamison “Reinvents the thriller for a new generation.” -Rebecca Godfrey “Gone Girl for the new decade.” -Vogue.com “A beautifully crafted novel with a terrifying story to tell. I couldn't put it down.” -Paul La Farge Inspired by a true story, this haunting debut novel pieces together a chorus of voices to explore the aftermath of a college student's death. On a cold day in 1997, student Sara Morgan was killed in the woods surrounding her liberal arts college in upstate New York. Her boyfriend, Blake Campbell, confessed, his plea of temporary insanity raising more questions than it answered. In the wake of his acquittal, the case comes to haunt a strange and surprising network of community members, from the young woman who discovers Sara's body to the junior reporter who senses its connection to convicted local serial killer John Logan. Others are looking for retribution or explanation: Sara's half sister, stifled by her family's bereft silence about Blake, poses as a babysitter and seeks out her own form of justice, while the teenager Sara used to babysit starts writing to Logan in prison. A propulsive, taut tale of voyeurism and obsession, Nothing Can Hurt You dares to examine gendered violence not as an anomaly, but as the very core of everyday life. Tracing the concentric circles of violence rippling out from Sara's murder, Nicola Maye Goldberg masterfully conducts an unforgettable chorus of disparate voices.

Though My Heart Is Torn

Though My Heart Is Torn
Author: Joanne Bischof
Publisher: Multnomah
Total Pages: 354
Release: 2013-04-02
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1601424248

Gideon O’Riley has two wives—but he doesn’t know it. Settling into a simple life in the majestic Blue Ridge mountains, Lonnie and Gideon O’Riley have finally found happiness after the rocky start to their marriage. The roguish bluegrass musician has fallen in love with his gentle wife and the God she serves, and Lonnie rests secure in his tenderness for her and their young son. A heartless ruse interupts their peace, bringing them back to Rocky Knob—and forces them to face the claims of Cassie Allan, a woman who says she is Gideon’s rightful wife. As Gideon wades into the depths of his past choices, Lonnie is stunned by the revelations. She has no choice but to navigate this new path, knowing that surviving the devastating blow will take every ounce of strength she has. While Gideon’s guilt and his bitterness towards Cassie threatens to burn up his fledgling faith, Lonnie wrestles to find the courage to trust the God who brought them together in the first place. Will their hard-earned love be able to conquer all? Lonnie only wanted her husband’s love. Now that he belongs to another, can she surrender Gideon to a God with a bigger plan?

Skirt-a-Day Sewing

Skirt-a-Day Sewing
Author: Nicole Smith
Publisher: Hachette UK
Total Pages: 772
Release: 2013-07-03
Genre: Crafts & Hobbies
ISBN: 1612122450

Design and sew your own fabulously stylish skirts. In this fun guide, Nicole Smith shows you how to draft a pattern for a custom fit and shape it into one of four basic silhouettes: wrap, straight, flared, and high-waisted. Each skirt can then be easily redesigned into seven distinct looks — one for each day of the week. Suitable for beginners and expert sewers alike, Skirt-a-Day Sewing will inspire you to express your unique personal style as you stitch up great new pieces for your wardrobe.

13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl

13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl
Author: Mona Awad
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 181
Release: 2016-02-23
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0698408934

From the author of Bunny, a “hilarious, heartbreaking book” (People) about a woman whose life is hijacked by her struggle to conform “Stunning . . . As you watch Lizzie navigate fraught relationships—with food, men, girlfriends, her parents and even with herself—you’ll want to grab a friend and say: ‘Whoa. This. Exactly.’” —Washington Post Growing up in the suburban hell of Misery Saga (a.k.a. Mississauga), Lizzie has never liked the way she looks—even though her best friend Mel says she’s the pretty one. She starts dating guys online, but she’s afraid to send pictures, even when her skinny friend China does her makeup: she knows no one would want her if they could really see her. So she starts to lose. With punishing drive, she counts almonds consumed, miles logged, pounds dropped. She fights her way into coveted dresses. She grows up and gets thin, navigating double-edged validation from her mother, her friends, her husband, her reflection in the mirror. But no matter how much she loses, will she ever see herself as anything other than a fat girl? In her brilliant, hilarious, and at times shocking debut, Mona Awad skewers the body image-obsessed culture that tells women they have no value outside their physical appearance. Brilliant, hilarious, and heartbreaking, 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl introduces a vital new voice in fiction. WINNER OF THE AMAZON CANADA FIRST NOVEL AWARD FINALIST FOR THE SCOTIABANK GILLER PRIZE FINALIST FOR THE COLORADO BOOK AWARD FOR LITERARY FICTION LONGLISTED FOR THE DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD ARAB AMERICAN BOOK AWARD HONORABLE MENTION FOR FICTION

Torn Skirt

Torn Skirt
Author: Rebecca Godfrey
Publisher: Turtleback
Total Pages:
Release: 2002-01
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9780613606264

Yearning for guidance and friendship, Sara, a troubled and vulnerable teenager, embarks on a dangerous odyssey into the dark underworld of violence, drugs, prostitution, and murder as she searches for Justine, a mysterious young girl in a torn skirt.

One Good Hustle

One Good Hustle
Author: Billie Livingston
Publisher: Random House Canada
Total Pages: 219
Release: 2012-07-24
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0307359905

From award-winning writer Billie Livingston, an unsparing novel of loyalty and survival that is fierce, sharp and funny even when it's breaking your heart. The child of two con artists, 16-year-old Sammie Bell always prided herself on knowing the score. But now she finds herself backed into a corner. After a hustle gone dangerously wrong, her mother, Marlene, is sliding into an abyss of alcoholic depression, spending her days fantasizing aloud about death—a goal Sammie is tempted to help her accomplish. Horrified by the appeal of this, Sammie packs a bag and leaves her mother to her own devices. With her father missing in action, she has nowhere else to go but the home of a friend with two parents who seem to actually love their daughter and each other—and who awkwardly try to extend some semblance of family to Sammie. Throughout a long summer of crisis among the normals, Sammie is torn between her longing for the approval of the con-man father she was named for and her desire for the "weird, spearmint-fresh feeling" of life in the straight world. Sammie wants to be normal but fears that where she comes from makes that beyond the realm of possibility. One Good Hustle chronicles two months in Sammie Bell's struggle with her dread that she is somehow doomed genetically to be just another hustler.