Books - Good Girls Don’t
October 2004
Poolbeg Press
Paperback, 182 pages
ISBN 1842231758
(a companion to Stereotype)
Good girls tell the truth.
Good girls behave themselves.
Good girls work hard and care about their education.
Good girls do the right thing.
Emily Keating, however, is not a good girl, unlike her sanctimonious elder sister. But she’s a little too busy with the various complications in her life to be too concerned about that.
There’s Declan, her depressed friend who she tries to help in a way that only ends up contributing to his problems.
Or Lucy, a former crush whose relationship is suddenly becoming a lot more serious.
Or Hugh, Emily’s ex-boyfriend (now going out with a school-friend of hers) who she still has unresolved issues with.
Or Barry, her dearest friend, and according to almost everyone, the one she’s destined to be with, despite their insistence that they’re just good friends. (Are they?)
Amidst partying, drama and watching far too many movies, Emily tries to help her friends and sort out their lives – as well as figure out what it is that she really wants.
“Claire Hennessy’s ever-chatty fifth book, though middle class, is never middle-of-the-road. Anti-heroine Emily’s experience of school and out-of-school activities (and we’re not talking hockey) is deliberately and, at times, maddeningly adolescent. Promiscuity, “bendable sexuality” and a suicide are par for the zig-zag course and, though Emily at 17 asserts and shocks, she also survives a world of grim, confused and moody realism.”
(Niall MacMonagle, The Irish Times)
“This new offering is her most daring yet. It features Emily, who tries to sort out her friends, whilst struggling to make sense of her own sexuality. It’s a mature, thoughtful book.”
(Sue Leonard, Woman’s Way)
“Here is the voice of urban adolescence. Sharp, direct and no fudging.”
(The Village)
“The confusion about sexual orientation is handled in a frank and non-judgemental way…. This sadly realistic picture of Irish teenage life is no fairytale…”
(Celia Keenan, Sunday Independent)
“…enjoyable and well worth a read…”
“…brilliant, it won’t let you down…”
(Amazon reviews)
