About This Book
Reach for this book when your teenager feels like an odd peg in a square hole or struggles with the 'ugliness' of adolescence. Marigold (nicknamed Bilgewater) is a brainy, self-conscious girl growing up as the only daughter of a housemaster in an all-boys boarding school. This unique setting provides a witty, sharp-eyed backdrop for her journey toward self-acceptance. Jane Gardam captures the agonizing self-doubt and sudden joys of being fifteen with profound empathy. It is a story about the intellectual and emotional awakening of a girl who thinks she is plain and unremarkable, only to discover her own magnetism. Parents will appreciate the sophisticated prose and the realistic, non-glamorized portrayal of first crushes and academic pressure.
