The First Principles of Dreaming
If Carrie had been written by a woman and a feminist...
It's 1977, and Mary-Eve Hamilton (Mary for the Mother of God, Eve for the mother of mankind) is plodding through her final year at Eleusis High School. Mary-Eve's mother, famed prophetess at the Waiting for the Rapture End Times Tabernacle, regularly has visions, foams at the mouth, and falls down rigid. Her father, a popular deacon, hides his abuse behind a Sunday morning facade. Mary-Eve herself appears to be a dutiful teenager, her entire life regulated by the rules of their church. But inside she’s biding her time, waiting for emancipation from her family's strictures and secrets. That day comes when Mary-Eve befriends Dee Eccles, an eighteen-year-old pagan goddess from the other side of everything. Dee instantly re-christens Mary-Eve with the name Jezebel, Jez for short, and begins her initiation into the women's mysteries of makeup, tight jeans, and otherworldly glory. But Jez quickly learns that Dee has her own secrets, and that demons are not confined to the Waiting for the Rapture End Times Tabernacle.
Praise & Recognition
"This deeply engrossing and powerful novel by Goobie draws readers in and squeezes tight."
Publisher's WeeklyBeth Goobie has written novels for teens before and now turns her hand to a coming-of-age novel which exposes the complexity of a young woman’s shifting identity.... The style is intense and highly emotive.
Buried in Print...An uncanny and surreal read: Goobie adeptly taps into the novelty and intensity of being a teenager where things are sensed and felt, rather than known.
The Coastal Spectator"Beth Goobie’s The First Principles of Dreaming is a beautifully written magic-realist treatise on the power of pain and loss."
Paper Droids"Goobie is a talented prose stylist with an admirable mix of Old Testament and new world references and rhythms."
Saskatoon Star-PhoenixThe Sunburst Award 2015 - Long-listed
Details
Publication Date: September 1, 2014
Genre: Adult Fiction
Product Format: Paperback
Pages: 266
ISBN: 978-1-927583-27-2
About the Author
Beth Goobie
Beth Goobie grew up in Guelph, ON, where the appearance of a normal childhood hid the secret of an abusive family. Overcoming her traumatic childhood, Beth went to university out West, became a youth residential treatment worker, and also studied creative writing at the U. of Alberta. She went on to become an award-winning author of 23 novels and books of poetry, mainly YA, including Flux and the CLA award-winning Before Wings. Beth makes her home in Saskatoon.
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