Why a Booktrail?
1960s, 1970s: A coming of age story set in Pasadena and New York
Autobiography of Us
What you need to know before your trail
Rebecca and Alexandra meet in high school in Pasadena. They become fast friends despite their different backgrounds – Becky is shy and a bookworm whereas Alexandra is popular and stunning.
Now years later, Rebecca tells the story of her and her friend and their growing up against a backdrop of the Vietnam war, civil rights and women’s liberation and the relationship of the two girls mimics the changes in the country at large.
The two girls are destined for different futures and different careers but their journey there is one of discovery and change.
Travel Guide
America of the 1960s and 1970s is the place and setting of the novel in every way – from the race riots, Vietnam, civil rights movement and place of the women in society. All are explored and very much present as these two girls struggle to find their way in life and their position within their friendship. Both girls struggle to some degree with the different positions in life they are expected to take. Rebecca especially is encouraged to become a young lady and rise up in society. However what she ends up with (following a move to New York) is not what either of them would have envisaged. The two girls grow apart but Rebecca writes letters to her friend which she never sends. However when they meet again, the story of their lives, their past and their friendship is revealed further
Their story is one of friendship, coming of age, getting out there in the world and living very different lives. Lives which involved living as men dictated and living according to the rules of the time. Feminism is perhaps the main character that accompanies them wherever they go and whoever they meet.
Coming of age in 1960s and 1970s America
Where Next?
