Product Description
Subtitled 'The Pillow Book of Cordella Kenn' this is the story of Cordella from the time she is 15 until she is 20. She is pregnant and plans to give this account to her daughter on her 16th birthday so that they can share their youth together. She chooses the old and famous Japanese book' 'The Pillow Book' by Sei Shonagon' as a model in order to include all kinds of things she has already written as well as the episodes and thoughts she has now as she compiles her book. She tells of her mother (who died when Cordella was 5) of her father and her aunt Dorls (who marry when she is 16), of her love for William Blacklin, the boy with whom she chooses to have her first sex - and with whom she falls deeply in love. She writes about Julie Martin her teacher who helps her spiritually, describes her love affair with an older married man and her terrifying sexual experience with an unbalanced young man who is obsessed with her. The book includes thoughts on being a women, on poetry, music, reading and writing, on being pregnant and finally of her marriage to William. This Is All is an anthology, written in six 'books' of Cordella's adolescent life, by turns funny, poignant, sad, exciting, fascinating ironic and truthful about topics that parents often do not tell their children. It is a richly entertaining and challenging read.
From the Inside Flap
All writing is a gift
Cordelia, at nineteen, while pregnant with her baby daughter, complies the story of her teenage years.
Choosing the old and famous Japanese pillow book as her model, Cordelia is able to include all kinds of writing she has done in the past, as well as episodes and thoughts, lists and poems she is writing now.
Here is an honest and challenging self-portrait of an exceptional girl who passionately needs to write - of the unusual relationship within her family, of her love for William Blacklin, the boy of her choice with whom she has her first sex, of her affair with an older married man, of her terrifying experience with a young man who is obsessed with her, and of her friendship with her teacher, Julie, who encourages her in her spiritual life. Her thoughts range widely: on poetry and breasts, periods and music, friendship and trees, consciousness and sleep, and much more besides.
A wonderfully evocative and gripping story of an extraordinary girl who in turn maddens and fascinates and finally seduces the reader.
Aidan Chambers is a writer who constantly breaks boundaries, in his stories and the way he tells them. Nowhere has he done this more triumphantly than in the Pillow Book of Cordelia Kenn.
All writing is memory.
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