In a touching, suspenseful, often hilarious tale, Susan Swan describes a crucial year in the lives of two Canadian girls as they begin their stormy journey towards adulthood. The year is 1963, the location the Bath Ladies College, a boarding school on the outskirts of Toronto. Fourteen-year-old Mary Beatrice (Mouse) Bradford and her roommate Pauline (Paulie) Sykes inhabit a netherworld on the shady borders between reality and imagination. Neither makes any attempt conform to the "normal" life around them. Polio has left Mouse with a hump, which she names Alice (after her dead mother) and imbues with a wisecracking personality. Mouse also writes letters to John F. Kennedy, whom she thinks of as a surrogate father. Rebellious Paulie rejects her female identity and guides Mouse into an erotic cult that worships King Kong. Their experiments with self-discovery spin out of control; the powerful stirrings of adolescent sexuality and the pain of love denied lead to psychosis and a murder that only Mouse can understand. Swan describes their teenage hijinks with Chaucerian bawdiness, yet she also thoughtfully chronicles the bewilderment of young, sensitive women struggling to understand their sexual roles in a hostile environment.

An unusual and captivating novel, sometimes quite sad, often quite funny; always dark and unsettling. There's something very unique and disturbing about this little tale that makes it stand apart from your standard coming-of-age-in-the-sixties story; the characters, events and setting often seem to all be slightly off-kilter and not what they seem to be. Very intriguing and enjoyable read.

I picked up this book from Kimmi's Canadian Authors Bookbox.

Releasing books by Canadian authors on Canada Day!

Mes salutations à Aunt-Sophie et mes remerciements à geishabird.

It looks interesting. I'll endeavour to read it as soon as possible.

A little too far-fetched, but I couldn't put it down until it was finished -- a rather good sign. The humour of it is definitely working.

Where all the books are. Enjoy!