It's the "Autobiography of us" by Aria Beth Sloss.
It was an easy read and I enjoyed the era it was set in - it started in the 1960's and was set in America. I always think the difference between USA and Ireland in the 1950's and the 1960's was amazingly vast. Ireland only saw money coming in to the economy in the very late 1960's through the beginning of Foreign Direct Investment. Prior to this it was quite backward and extremely rural, for example Ireland only became fully electrified in the late 1970's.
In this book there is a part where the main protagonist is preparing to go to college. Although not from a well off background she gathers together a fairly extensive wardrobe that will see her through the college year and all of the events she will have to attend. An 18 yr old in Ireland at that time would have a few staples to see her through the working week along with her "Sunday Best" for mass and dinner on Sunday!
But back to the book. As I was reading it I realised that the author jumped over large sections where you had to assume what had happened. I can be a little slow on the uptake so it took me awhile to cop where the story was going. There was a slight twist near the end (which obviously I hadn't seen!) which gave a little bit of a lift to the story.
Overall a book which is readable in a weekend and a very good effort from a first time novelist.
