The street where they lived began with the Protestant cemetery just outside the stooping brick rowhouses of the federal housing project. Gathering steam for a quarter of a mile where front porches started tilting upward, the street careened up the steepest hill in town to the Catholic cemetery, where leafy paths were named for the passion and suffering of Jesus Christ. There was usually a funeral coming or going.

    “An eloquent, often brilliant narrative.” New York Times Book Review

    “This first novel is sure to be the cornerstone of a remarkable career.” Publishers Weekly

    “The time is the 1960s, when the world outside an ordinary small town is brimming with social upheaval and the new threat of atomic disaster. For Colleen Dutton, these are much more than newspaper headlines. As she adventurously wrestles with life’s contradictions, she struggles to discover her place in the world, as well as her connections to her family, her beliefs, and her powers of creativity. Small-Town Girl is a stunning first novel that takes us on a timeless journey through a girl’s adolescence. Ellen Cooney reveals with dazzling insight and brash humor the maturing of a writer as she deliberates over problems of guilt and redemption, honor and justice, and ultimately, friendship and love.” From the jacket

    “A collage of episodic scenes traces Colleen Dutton’s gradual transition from child to young woman...The novel’s success at capturing the mood and flavor of a staunch Catholic upbringing in the 1960s is undeniable.” Booklist