This is a really beautifully written and touching story about childhood, sexuality and class. It’s a coming-of-age tale about adolescent girls who wear ‘shag bands’ (as they were called in the UK during that era) but who actively encourage and allow boys to snap the bands in exchange for sexual favours. It looks at friendship and the complex metamorphosis of little girls into young women. Gorgeous!
First published in Bellevue Literary Review, Fall 2010, and available to read here. Collected in the Pushcart Prize Anthology 2012
A Personal Anthology 