All writing is a gift. All writing is memory. Cordelia is nineteen and pregnant with her baby daughter. She passionately needs to write and, choosing the old and famous Japanese pillow book as her model, she compiles the story of her teenage years. What emerges is an honest and challenging portrait of the unusual relationships in her family, of her love for William Blacklin, of her affair with an older married man, of her terrifying experience with a man who is obsessed with her, and of her friendship with her teacher, Julie. Her thoughts range widely: on poetry and breasts, periods and music, friendship and trees, consciousness and sleep, sex and laughter. A wonderfully evocative and gripping story of an extraordinary girl who in turn maddens and fascinates and finally seduces the reader.
