The Torn Skirt -

Rebecca Godfrey

Harper Perennial

2002

208 páginas

6h 56m

ISBN-13: 9780060094850

As a teen in the mid-'80s in British Columbia,Sara Shaw has two lives.At home,she is the responsible daughter who cleans,launders,and manages the bills for her feckless,addicted father. At school,aptly nicknamed "Mount Drug", she hangs out with a group of stoned delinquents.When her father suddenly abandons her,she leaves home for the back alleys of Victoria where she is swept into the world of runaways, pimps,prostitutes,and addicts.Despite the graphic sexual situations and language,this is a touching book about a sensitive,articulate teen who longs for security while recklessly courting danger.She misses her mother who still lives in the commune Sara and her father had left.She regrets not befriending a girl at her school,and tries to compensate by helping the young women she meets on the streets and in a shelter.She imagines life with the kind foster family she is offered, but can't make herself leave the streets and go to them.This first novel is suspenseful,surprisingly funny,and thought provoking.Godfrey's portrayal of the anguish and hope of troubled teens has a searing authenticity.