Towelhead

A dark, deliciously grown-up take on Judy Blume - the story of a young girl's challenging coming-of-age that is funnier than it ought to be.

Jasira, a teenaged Arab-American girl, is sent away by her mother to live with her father, after the mother's boyfriend begins paying her too much attention. But Jasira's father is unable to show her the affection she craves, or to handle her feelings about her rapidly changing body. America is about to go to war in Kuwait, and Jasira becomes ever more isolated at school, and begins to look for love in all the wrong places. Mr Vuoso, a neighbour and army reservist who catches her looking at his copy of Playboy while she is babysitting his son, is quick to take advantage of her vulnerability. Things look very bad for Jasira until a pregnant neighbour, Melina, offers her a lifeline, and in the novel's hilarious, and heartbreaking climax, manages to bring father and daughter, finally, a little closer to one another.