Girls in Trucks

by: Katie Crouch

Published by: Little, Brown

Reviewed by Linda Lee

Sarah Walters grew up in Charleston trying to follow the rules. She attended Cotillion Training School to learn the dances and etiquette required of a debutante. As a member of the Camellia Society by birth, she will use these rules and skills all her enchanted life.

Sarah hears this from all directions, from her mother who drinks too much, from the Camellia Society mamas who always seem to be around, and from the other Camellias
who attend Wednesday night classes.

Sarah’s older sister, Eloise, is valedictorian and the most promiscuous girl in class, something she feels the need to share with Sarah. When Eloise goes away to Yale, Sarah’s education also broadens. Charleston is no longer the place for her.

While Sarah learned how to serve tea, she never learned to respect herself. Sleeping around seems to be the norm, and while she feels like everyone knows the rules to this game but her, she stills wants to play.

A move to New York City with her friend Charlotte makes the game tougher as there is now more time to drink and party. Sarah spends time with the wrong men; men who are sick, or just cruel, and will let her turn herself inside out in order to keep them happy.

Tragedy in her family calls Sarah home where she realizes being a Camellia isn”˜t as pretty, or as safe, as it once seemed. Never the less, it is a constant–something and someone to depend on. Do the rules still apply? Can she be happy if she picks up where she left off in Charleston?

Told in a humorous voice, this is a dark tale of a young woman’s endeavor to find true love and happiness. Women of all ages will identify with Sarah, if not in deed, at least in theory.

Armchair Interviews says: Well told, Girls in Trucks is a story that will keep you turning pages.