What a great book! STORY OF A GIRL chronicles the summer of rising junior Deanna Lambert who, in eighth grade was caught by her father having sex in the back of Tommy’s Buick. Tommy, 17, was a friend of her older brother’s. Deanna didn’t love him, she’s not even sure that she even liked him, but the story of their escapades got around town so that by the time she entered into highschool, she’d been branded as the school slut.
Thank you, Tommy. 
In addition to having a bad reputation, Deanna hasn’t had a real conversation with her father since the incident happened two years ago. He won’t look her in the face and he jumps to conclusions about where she’s going and what she’s doing. Deanna’s main goal in life is to make enough money to be able to move out of her parent’s house, with her older brother, his baby mama and their new baby, April, Deanna’s neice. The trio live in Deanna’s parent’s basement and their own story of struggle and sacrifice explores the very real consequences (and joys) of a teenage pregnancy.
Deanna needs cash, so she takes on a summer job at the local pizza parlor and on her first day of work, discovers none other than Tommy, her Tommy, is her only other co-worker. He automatically takes to calling her Dee-Dee, his nickname for her and reminding her in degrading ways of their time together. Deanna is both repulsed and attracted to Tommy, if only because of their shared history and her low self-esteem.
Meanwhile her two best friends (boy and girl) are in love, which only further alienates her from the people who could be her allies. When a fight breaks out between her and her girlfriend, Deanna turns to Tommy, thinking he can make her feel good, if only for a little while. But she is sadly disappointed.
At the same time her brother and his girlfriend are on the outs and when they finally come back together, it’s obvious that their future plan doesn’t include Deanna as their live-in nanny, which only fuels her feelings of isolation and abandonment.
Story of a Girl explores the themes of forgiveness and compassion, of moving on and redefining one’s self by one’s own terms. It is a story told with so much honesty and compassion, with such true-to-life moments that I found myself both cringing and crying. I’ve been recommending it to all my teenage girl friends and young women alike. I keep saying, “this is how it is, this is how you move on.”
Sara Zarr, Bravo!
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