Caitlin Moran

reads from

How to Build a Girl:
A Novel

in conversation with MEREDITH GOLDSTEIN

THIS EVENT IS SOLD OUT

This event includes a book signing

Date

Jul
8
Wednesday
July 8, 2015
6:00 PM ET
(Doors at 5:30)

Location

Brattle Theatre
40 Brattle St., Cambridge, MA 02138

Tickets

SOLD OUT. View our Sold Out Event FAQ.

Harvard Book Store welcomes CAITLIN MORAN, author of How to Be a Woman, and Boston Globe columnist MEREDITH GOLDSTEIN for a discussion of Moran's new-to-paperback novel, How to Build a Girl.

The New York Times bestselling author hailed as “the UK’s answer to Tina Fey, Chelsea Handler, and Lena Dunham all rolled into one” (Marie Claire) makes her fiction debut with a hilarious yet deeply moving coming of age novel.

What do you do in your teenage years when you realize what your parents taught you wasn’t enough? You must go out and find books and poetry and pop songs and bad heroes—and build yourself.

It’s 1990. Johanna Morrigan, fourteen, has shamed herself so badly on local TV that she decides that there’s no point in being Johanna anymore and reinvents herself as Dolly Wilde—fast-talking, hard-drinking Gothic hero and full-time Lady Sex Adventurer. She will save her poverty-stricken Bohemian family by becoming a writer—like Jo in Little Women, or the Bröntes—but without the dying young bit.

By sixteen, she’s smoking cigarettes, getting drunk and working for a music paper. She’s writing pornographic letters to rock-stars, having all the kinds of sex with all kinds of men, and eviscerating bands in reviews of 600 words or less.

But what happens when Johanna realizes she’s built Dolly with a fatal flaw? Is a box full of records, a wall full of posters, and a head full of paperbacks, enough to build a girl after all?

Imagine The Bell Jar written by Rizzo from Grease. How to Build a Girl is a funny, poignant, and heartbreakingly evocative story of self-discovery and invention, as only Caitlin Moran could tell it.

Caitlin Moran
Caitlin Moran

Caitlin Moran

Caitlin Moran was named Columnist of the Year by the Press Awards in 2010 and Critic and Interviewer of the Year in 2011 for her work in The Times of London. Her debut book, How to Be a Woman, won the 2011 Galaxy Book of the Year Award and was an instant New York Times bestseller. Her first novel, How to Build a Girl, was published in 2014 to widespread acclaim. You can follow Caitlin on Twitter: @caitlinmoran and learn more on her website: www.caitlinmoran.co.uk.

Meredith Goldstein
Meredith Goldstein

Meredith Goldstein

Meredith Goldstein is an advice columnist and entertainment reporter for The Boston Globe. Her advice column, Love Letters, has been a Globe favorite for more than a decade. She also hosts the Love Letters podcast; Season 4 is coming soon. Meredith’s books include her memoir, Can’t Help Myself;  the young adult novel Chemistry Lessons, about a teen who uses science to manipulate her love life; and The Singles, a novel about a group of dateless guests at a wedding. Meredith's next YA book, Things That Grow, will be released in 2021.

UPDATE: Tickets for this event are sold out. Please note, we are often able to accommodate additional attendees from a standby line for sold out events. View our Sold Out Event FAQ for more information.

TICKET HOLDERS: Please note that your ticket ONLY guarantees you admission until five minutes before an event begins. Additionally, tickets purchased online may only be picked up at the venue the night of the event, and cannot be picked up in-store beforehand. $5 tickets are also coupons, good for $5 off an in-store purchase at Harvard Book Store. Coupons expire one month after the event, and cannot be used for online purchases, event tickets, discounted items, or gift certificates.

All ticket purchases are nonrefundable and nonreturnable.

Brattle Theatre
40 Brattle St., Cambridge, MA 02138

Walking from the Harvard Square T station: 10 minutes

As you exit the station, cross Mass. Ave. and proceed along Brattle St. Follow Brattle St. as it curves to the right in Brattle Square (follow the sidewalk on the right side of the street). The Brattle will be on the left-hand side of the street. The building is shared with Algiers Cafe and Alden & Harlow Restaurant, and the theatre entrance is on the left side of the building—look for the sidewalk poster case and marquee.

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