The Torn Skirt: A Novel

From Rebecca Godfrey, author of UNDER THE BRIDGE – now streaming on Hulu, starring Lily Gladstone and Riley Keough – a fierce and tender portrait of two weeks in the life of a troubled teenager.

“The Torn Skirt is a hot book, a thrilling romance of teen rage and longing – like S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders, except about girls.” — Mary Gaitskill, author of This is Pleasure and Bad Behavior

At Mt. Douglas (a.k.a. Mt. Drug) High, all the girls have feathered hair, and the sweet scent of Love's Baby Soft can't hide the musk of raw teenage anger, apathy, and desire. Sara Shaw is a girl full of fever and longing, a girl looking for something risky, something real. Her only possible salvation comes in the willowy form of the mysterious Justine, the outlaw girl in the torn skirt. The search for Justine will lead Sara on a daring odyssey into an underworld of hookers and johns, junkies and thieves, runaway girls and skater boys, and, ultimately, into a violent tragedy.

At Mt. Douglas (a.k.a. Mt. Drug) High, all the girls have feathered hair, and the sweet scent of Love's Baby Soft can't hide the musk of raw teenage anger, apathy, and desire. Sara Shaw is a girl full of fever and longing, a girl looking for something risky, something real. Her only possible salvation comes in the willowy form of the mysterious Justine, the outlaw girl in the torn skirt. The search for Justine will lead Sara on a daring odyssey into an underworld of hookers and johns, junkies and thieves, runaway girls and skater boys, and, ultimately, into a violent tragedy.

“The Torn Skirt is a hot book, a thrilling romance of teen rage and longing -- like S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders, except about girls.” - Mary Gaitskill, author of Two Girls, Fat and Thin

“A serious bullet of a book....Godfrey constantly impresses with her precise eye and impassioned tone. A bright new voice.” - Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review

“[The] voice of the bad girls...[a] literary rebellion.” - Maclean's

“The Torn Skirt inspired a range of rabid fans, from literary hipsters to renegade kids.” - Rolling Stone

“I loved and believed that narrative of a 16 year old mind—immature, abandoned and yet exploding. It came from a heartfelt and true perception, an authentic writers’ desire. Which made it rock.” - Thurston Moore, Sonic Youth

“No one understands the teenage mind like Rebecca Godfrey. An no one can penetrate its darkest recesses with such insight and compassion.” - Gary Shteyngart, author of The Russian Debutante's Handbook

“A dizzying mix of hope and despair.” - Oregonian

“Captivating . . . Stark and bewitching . . . A voice that is fresh, disaffected and angst-ridden . . . Sara is afflicted with an overwhelming sense of compassion . . . Her world is a persuasive one, as malignant and addictive as a cigarette.” - New York Times Book Review