(Originally published in Bay Windows, May 15, 2008.)
“It’s the book I wish I’d read when I was 13,” says Vermont writer Jennifer McMahon about her new young adult book, My Tiki Girl
McMahon, a best-selling author of adult fiction, has written a captivating story of outsiders and first love. The protagonist, Maggie Keller, lost her mother in a car accident two years ago and blames herself. The friends she used to have now seem shallow. They can’t understand the transformation she has undergone. Instead of the popular girl she was in junior high, she enters tenth grade as an outcast with a shattered leg. She befriends the new girl in class, Dahlia Wainwright, also on the social margins, who is dealing with a mentally ill mother and the challenges of being part of a poor family in a rich town.
The two girls find adventure with Dahlia’s mother and brother through elaborate games of alternate identities and make-believe. A crisis looms, however, when Maggie finds herself falling for Dahlia at the same time that friends from her previous life start to impinge upon her new world. The book distinguishes itself not only by its focus on a same-sex relationship, but by its sensitive treatment of how the lure of normalcy can cause people to make different choices. “I think the outsiderness of the characters in the book isn’t just about coming to terms with their sexuality,” McMahon explains. “Being a teenager is hard, no matter what you’re dealing with. Gay, straight, whatever.”
The story revolves around teen life, but McMahon gives it a depth and maturity one doesn’t always associate with teen literature. Part of the reason may be that she didn’t intend to write a young adult novel. “The original version of it was quite dark,” she says. Her agent convinced her, however, to revise it for a younger audience. McMahon says her earlier adult novel, Promise Not to Tell
McMahon’s career as a writer has been full of such unexpected transformations. She grew up in suburban Connecticut and wrote her first story, “about a haunted meatball,” in third grade. She “got really into writing” but dropped out of high school. Later, she went back to get a GED and go to Vermont’s Goddard College for a degree in poetry. It was while studying poetry in the MFA program at Vermont College that she realized her poems were growing longer and longer. “Oh my God, I’m writing a novel,” she thought. “What do I know about writing novels?” Support from both her partner and agent convinced her to take the plunge, however.
The effort seems to have paid off. Her novel Promise Not to Tell, which came out in April 2007, made the USA Today bestseller list. My Tiki Girl hits the shelves within weeks of her new adult book, Island of Lost Girls
As if two book launches within a month weren’t enough, McMahon also spends her days caring for her four-year-old daughter while her partner works outside the home. While she was pregnant, she says, “I had this complete fantasy of sitting at the desk and writing away while the little darling played happily at my feet and was quite content. You know, we didn’t have any moments like that.” She doesn’t begrudge the time, however: “It’s been an amazing experience staying home with her.” It has also helped her writing. “I’ve been able to train myself to write when I can,” she explains. “I always carry little note cards and paper and pens with me. I’d be pushing her on the swing and I’d get an idea for a scene I was working on and I’d say ’Hang on a second, honey,’ and I’d scribble down an idea and then go back to pushing her. I carved out little niches of time wherever I could. It’s a huge help now that she’s in preschool. She loves preschool, and I love preschool. She’s learning so much, I have time to write, and it’s wonderful.”
Parenthood has also impacted the content of her writing. When she was doing research for Island of Lost Girls, which deals with child abduction, she said, “It affected me in a much more profound way than it would have if I were not a parent. . . . I mean, it affects all parts of your life. . . . You’re just a changed person once you have a child.”
Or lose a mother, as My Tiki Girl conveys. McMahon’s book is a welcome addition to the growing genre of novels about LGBT teens, but should also appeal to anyone who has ever dealt with loss, felt like an outsider, or who remembers their first teen love.
McMahon will be reading and signing My Tiki Girl and Island of Lost Girls Tuesday, May 27 at 7 p.m. at the Galaxy Bookshop in Hardwick, VT. Visit jennifer-mcmahon.com for details and other readings in Vermont and Massachusetts.