Spinsters (High Risk Books) - Softcover

Hero to millions of over-educated hipsters, Pagan Kennedy has produced zines, short stories, a semi-autobiography, and this novel, a tiny gem that disappoints only because it is too short. Fran and Dora, two aspiring spinsters who leave the home of their recently deceased father to search out elderly aunts in need of a codependant relationship, discover the youth culture of the late '60s as they drive across America. Coming to terms with the fact that they are not yet old enough to live out their fantasy life of quiet, feminine obsolescence, the two react in contradictory ways to the radical social change that they had failed to notice in their tiny New Hampshire hometown. Kennedy weaves political and personal history together in her extremely fluid prose, producing a work that is swift and moving, leaving the reader wanting more.

It's 1968. Frannie and Doris, sisters and spinsters, have been taking care of their father for their entire adult lives. When he dies, they hit the road in their Plymouth Valiant to take a much needed vacation. Frannie, the novel's narrator, longs to continue her reclusive life with her sister. But Doris, cut free of responsibility, wants to raise hell and get laid. Their journey through the changing landscape of America - civil rights marches, the deaths of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King, the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago - is an elegy to a lost time in the United States. It is also a touching, lyrical, and superbly crafted mid-life coming-of-age tale.