Shaping kate

Kate MacCallum is a girl in the 1950s, a decade without TV, computers, phones or any apps, and her restless curiosity keeps getting her into trouble with the rules of her home. She admires Huckleberry Finn's liberty and Amelia Earhart's self-reliance, and before each forbidden scheme she measures the risk against the sting of her mother's red belt.

Kate watches people closely, reading both books and the moods behind their gestures. She starts to question religion, the hypocrisy she sees around her, and those in charge. Her questions take her into dark territory: murder, incest and decapitation. She also presses her mother for answers about electroshock therapy, the female body and padded bras. One night she wakes to terrified screaming from the bed beside hers and uncovers a skeleton hidden in the family's past. Later, her own nightmares push her to break a promise and disclose a grim secret.

Years of preachers warning of hellfire have shaped Kate's world, and now she is puzzling over unfamiliar sexual feelings. Reluctantly, she steps onto the unavoidable road to womanhood. She is unsure about the church and about God, confused about love and life, and eager to find out what the adult world holds in terms of its mysteries and freedoms.