Girly

elizabeth merrick

“Sharp, smart, and on the edge— Girly breaks all of the rules, deliciously.” –Hannah Tinti, author of Animal Crackers

Girly is Elizabeth Merrick’s acclaimed first novel, an epic exploring the realm of women’s spirituality and sexuality through the saga of Hart family that Tom Perrotta calls "an ambitious and moving first novel, an intimate family epic."

Racinda Hart survives her fundamentalist Christian upbringing and the tumult of her wild and dangerous older sister, Ruth. When Ruth disappears, Racinda rejects the Jesus of her rural Pennsylvania childhood to rush headlong into her sexuality and ultimately the exploits of a California rock band. Unmoored, and encountering several captivating adventuresses along the way, Racinda must discover the truth about her mother’s and her grandmother’s lives, as well as her own.

From a goddess who keeps an eye out for Racinda, to Racinda herself, Girly ’s seven narrative voices form an intimate, lyrical journey into an irresistible world.

"In Girly , Elizabeth Merrick has rewritten the dictionary on desire of the female kind. A tasty, must-read debut!"--Holiday Reinhorn

Merrick, the editor of the forthcoming Random House anthology THIS IS NOT CHICK LIT, recently explained the genesis of this underground sensation of a

"I wanted to read an epic, thoughtfully-written novel about the undercurrents of spirituality and sexuality I was hearing in Bjork, Tori Amos, PJ Harvey, Sleater Kinney. That book didn’t exist, I couldn’t find it at the bookstore. So I wrote it."

Genres

524 pages, Paperback

First published December 13,2005