California Golden - A Novel

Informationen zum Autor Melanie Benjamin is a prize-winning novelist and the New York Times bestselling author of The Children’s Blizzard, Mistress of the Ritz, The Girls in the Picture, The Swans of Fifth Avenue, The Aviator’s Wife, The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb, and Alice I Have Been . Benjamin lives in Chicago. Klappentext "Southern California, 1960s: endless sunny days surfing in Malibu, followed by glittering neon nights at Whisky A-Go-Go. In an era when women are expected to be housewives, Carol Donelly is breaking the mold as a legendary female surfer struggling to compete in a male-dominated sport--and her daughters, Mindy and Ginger, bear the weight of her unconventional lifestyle. The Donnelly sisters grow up enduring their mother's absence--physically, when she's at the beach, and emotionally, the rare times she's at home. To escape questions about Carol's whereabouts--and chase their mom's elusive affection--they cut school to spend their days in the surf. From her first time on a board, Mindy shows a natural talent, but Ginger, two years younger, feels out of place in the water. As they grow up and their lives diverge, Mindy and Ginger's relationship ebbs and flows. Mindy finds herself swept up in celebrity, complete with beachside love affairs, parties at the Playboy Club, and USO tours to Vietnam. Meanwhile, Ginger--desperate for a community of her own--is tugged into the vibrant counterculture of drugs and cults. Through it all, their sense of duty to each other survives, as the girls are forever connected by the emotional damage they carry from their unorthodox childhood. A gripping, emotional story set at a time when mothers were expected to be Donna Reed, not Gidget, California Golden is an unforgettable novel about three women living in a society that was shifting as tempestuously as the breaking waves"--]cProvided by publisher. Leseprobe 1 1964 The surf giveth, and the surf taketh away—­thus said the Surf God every morning, noon, and night in his church, which was the universe, the planet, California, the beach, the waves. On this holy day, the surf would most definitely giveth. The sand was cool and soft as sugar between her toes, the California sun tolerable, not blasting, because it was February. Yet the day was warm enough that the girls in their vibrant bikinis, and the guys in their board shorts, weren’t covered in goose pimples as they danced to the wailing electric guitars of Dick Dale and His Del-­Tones—­twisting, shimmying, hand jiving. One girl’s bikini was covered in long fringe that seemed to pulse with a life of its own as she gyrated so fiercely it was a wonder she didn’t snap her pelvis. Mindy laughed at the sight, then turned to do a groovy little two-­step with one of the hunky boys who’d gravitated into her orbit, for today she was the sun itself, radiating joy and contentment. She danced a little Watusi, a little Pony with a side of Mashed Potato. Raising her face to her fellow celestial being in a sisterly salute, she turned her back on the waves lapping the generous beach of Paradise Cove, tucked between tall sandy cliffs and a spindly wooden pier. If the sand was sugar, then gumballs and peppermint drops dotted the sky in the form of beach balls. Surfboards stood like totems in the sand. And Dick Dale and his boys—­all clad in wild Hawaiian shirts, their crew-­cut heads bopping up and down rhythmically—­continued to give it their all as they cranked through the driving melody of “Let’s Go Trippin’.” The music—­propelled by that wailing electric organ—­almost drowned out the pounding surf as it hurled itself against the concrete pylons of the pier. This is life, Mindy thought, grinning wildly at the other kids, who returned the joy, all smiling their blinding California smiles, teeth startlingly white against their suntanned faces. And why shou...

Détails du produit

• Auteurs: Melanie Benjamin
• Edition: Delacorte Press
• Langues: Anglais
• Format d'édition: Livre Relié
• Sortie: 15.08.2023
• EAN: 9780593497852
• ISBN: 978-0-593-49785-2
• Pages: 352
• Dimensions: 148 mm x 217 mm x 31 mm
• Catégorie: Littérature > Littérature (récits)