Billie and her friends make up the “Hexagon” – a gang of
rowdy and inseparable teens in their small Kentucky town of Otters
Hollow. They’re prone to mischief and
pranks. As the story opens, they’ve
managed to nearly burn down Billie’s church in an experiment involving a
dirty sock and the church’s aged microwave oven.
But the kids love their town and they love
the annual Corn Dolly Harvest Festival.
The Festival is endangered after the passing of the town’s patriarch and
the Hexagon decides that they are going save the Festival. They launch a massive fundraising campaign
and incidentally get Billie nominated for the Corn Dolly Contest – an award
given to the woman who is judged to be the epitome of femininity and generosity
in Otters Hollow.
That description couldn’t be any further away from
androgynous, scruffy, boot-kicking Billie.
And for her, even the idea of “femininity” is hard to grasp. She’s still trying to figure out if she’s
straight or gay – a fact not helped by her interest in both a boy and a girl,
or by her desire to keep things platonic.
Part of the key of the Hexagon’s bond is that
everyone stays as friends only. But as
they have grown older, that promise is starting to fray. All of which makes Billie’s sexual
orientation an object of speculation.
And in a small town not being easy to compartmentalize is a problem,
which complicates her relationship with the town -- a town that she loves, but which may
not love her back.
A nice genre defying novel that blows apart stereotypes about
the rural South, Christian fundamentalists, and teen gender identity
angst. Billie is a true original – a
tomboy who kisses both the boy and the girl (and stays friends with both!). She can be kind and generous, and still make
bad choices. And her friends are full of
mischief and trouble. Sometimes the cast
of characters gets overwhelming but this story feels new and special. There's lots of energy and personality in the
characters and a real small town feel.
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