Mary Jane
Books | Fiction / Historical / General
4.4
(701)
Jessica Anya Blau
"I LOVED this novel....If you have ever sung along to a hit on the radio, in any decade, then you will devour Mary Jane at 45 rpm." -Nick Hornby Almost Famous meets Daisy Jones and the Six in this funny, wise, and tender novel about a fourteen-year-old girl's coming of age in 1970s Baltimore, caught between her straight-laced family and the progressive family she nannies for-who happen to be secretly hiding a famous rock star and his movie star wife for the summer. In 1970s Baltimore, fourteen-year-old Mary Jane loves cooking with her mother, singing in her church choir, and enjoying her family's subscription to the Broadway Showtunes of the Month record club. Shy, quiet, and bookish, she's glad when she lands a summer job as a nanny for the daughter of a local doctor. A respectable job, Mary Jane's mother says. In a respectable house. The house may look respectable on the outside, but inside it's a literal and figurative mess: clutter on every surface, Impeachment: Now More Than Ever bumper stickers on the doors, cereal and takeout for dinner. And even more troublesome (were Mary Jane's mother to know, which she does not): the doctor is a psychiatrist who has cleared his summer for one important job-helping a famous rock star dry out. A week after Mary Jane starts, the rock star and his movie star wife move in. Over the course of the summer, Mary Jane introduces her new household to crisply ironed clothes and a family dinner schedule, and has a front-row seat to a liberal world of sex, drugs, and rock and roll (not to mention group therapy). Caught between the lifestyle she's always known and the future she's only just realized is possible, Mary Jane will arrive at September with a new idea about what she wants out of life, and what kind of person she's going to be.
Historical Fiction
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More Details:
Author
Jessica Anya Blau
Pages
320
Publisher
HarperCollins Publishers
Published Date
2021-06-25
ISBN
0063136759 9780063136755
Community ReviewsSee all
"Tender novel. I fell in love with the characters and was invested in their lives. I connected with the topics of music, family, and what love means. "
G A
Gabrielle Amaro
"Mary Jane was funny (hilarious at times), kind, and quite thought provoking in my opinion. I highly recommend this book!!!
Although billed as a “coming of age novel” I think Mary Jane is already quite wise and honestly at times the only adult in the house.
Having grown up in the 70’s myself, I think that Jessica Anya Blau does a magnificent job of presenting the dilemmas of the decade. What are families of good standing in a community vs what’s really going on in people’s homes. Racial, class and religious stereotypes, etc."