Full Description
The handbook that was presented to incoming students came right out with it: WILLARD COLLEGE FOR WOMEN--it said--WHERE A WOMAN CHOOSES HER OWN DESTINATION... The ellipses was included, presumably, to imply that anything could happen. So begins the saga of Elizabeth Breedlove, a newly arrived English major who will soon discover that the handbook is more prophetic than cliche. By a rare stroke of luck--or is it?--the naive and pretty frosh has been handed a choice single room in an upperclass dorm, and the chance to learn the lay of the land from those in the know. Foremost is androgynous sophomore Dusie Hertz, Elizabeth's designated Big Sister and the ultimate authority on Gothic Fey House, not to mention its resident ghost. According to Dusie, the unfortunate "Fey Ray" dwells in the walk-in closet she shares with her roommate, the intimidating Penelope "Pip" Collier. One look at Dusie and Pip's pushed-together twin beds tells Elizabeth that the late Fey Ray might well be the dorm's only closeted resident. African-American feminist psych professor Dr. Jojo Crews certainly makes no secret of her sexual orientation--nor of the fact that she hand-picked the comely Elizabeth as her advisee. Revered by some students, loathed by others, Jojo is aware that Willard Girls, by their own definition, consist of Virgins, Debutantes, and Dykes. She soon suspects where Elizabeth fits in...even if Elizabeth has yet to realize it herself. With each passing day, Elizabeth finds herself more fascinated by the seemingly self-assured Pip, who expertly conceals her vulnerability behind a radically short haircut and is perpetually armed with a fencing foil or her own barbed tongue. At first unwittingly, andthen willingly, Elizabeth gains admittance to Pip's complex world, where Sapphic passion is a vocation for some and a passing fancy for others. And it soon becomes clear that Pip's relationship with Dr. Jojo Crews goes beyond mentoring... Poignant and exhilarating, uplifting and tragic, the friends, lovers, and live that Elizabeth discovers at Willard will change her forever as she makes a compelling journey toward womanhood in the company of...Other Girls....
