by Garret Weyr
First published 1988
Alexandria, Penelope, and Caroline arrive at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill calling themselves Amazons. They are too tall, too smart, and too striking to fit the mold of standard college girls. Penelope brings European sophistication as the daughter of an American ambassador to France, but vulnerability lurks beneath her critical exterior. Alex from New York has quick comebacks for everything while hiding a painful secret and battling her own body through constant dieting. Caroline loves her friends more than herself but carries the weight of a lost love and her older brother's death in Vietnam. All three become involved with Edward, a smart man who prefers Susan, a sorority princess who seems to embody everything they reject. As their critical semester unfolds through tea parties, football games, and late night conversations, the women face adult problems that test their friendship. Sexual violence, bulimia, unwanted pregnancy, and suicide attempts shatter their college world. By Thanksgiving, they have moved beyond their Amazon identity to become women marked by real experience and pain.
Genres: fiction, literary-fiction, contemporary
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, personal-growth
Setting: Chapel Hill, France, North Carolina, University of North Carolina, Vietnam, New York
Period: 1960s, 1970s
232 pages · Hardcover · Crown
Content warnings: abuse, eating-disorder, sexual-assault, suicide