Withering Tights

I remember back when I was a teenager reading The Confessions of Georgia Nicholson series and literally laughing out loud in the middle of a crowded freshman study hall at the crazy British antics of Louise Rennison’s memorable heroine. In her new series, Rennison has introduced us to a new leading lady, Tallulah Casey, fourteen and a half, fresh off to performing arts college and a sweeter counterpart to her older cousin Georgia. The first book of this new series, Withering Tights, lands London dwelling Tallulah in the middle of Yorkshire at Dother Hall, a performing arts college that is running a summer program for aspiring artists. Tallulah is an immediately likable protagonist, for despite being fourteen and typically worried about lipstick and when she will ever be able to wear a bra, she is quirky and awkward, a bundle of long legs and a big heart that lacks the meanness of a typical teenage girl. In fact, Rennison has created an entire group of young girls who don’t feel the need to hide who they are (except around boys) and are not the vindictive mean girls America is so used to. Tallulah’s friends Jo, Vaisey, Flossie and Honey are each adorable portraits of girls trying to find themselves while hitting some speed bumps along the way.

            Tallulah lives in the village with a host family, since her parents signed her up late for the program and there wasn’t space in the dormitory for her. We get veiled hints that Tallulah’s parents are separated and incredibly distant, not so much parents but wild souls that happened to have a child. Rennison has chosen not to go into this particular plot point just yet, although I have a feeling it will come out more as the series continues. Instead, we get Tallulah’s host family, an incredibly happy couple with twin boys who are incapable of saying anything but “bogie.” Tallulah is charmed by this little family who find genuine pleasure in going outside to look at clouds or participating in the village wide skipping rope weaving project. While she sometimes longs for the bustle of the city, Tallulah takes her location in stride, something I appreciated. She becomes friends with the local pub owners daughter, Ruby, who is the most precocious ten year old I’ve found in literature thus far. The two form a wonderful friendship based on Ruby’s boy advice and the hatching of baby owls that they name after themselves. Tallulah is also half in love with Ruby’s older brother Alex, which finally begins to thicken the plot of this breezy novel.

            This is of course a young adult story, and thus boys make up much of the plot. The Dother Hall girls meet several boys their age who attend the nearby Woolfe Academy, and the entire lot becomes fast friends, pairing off into couples with astonishing speed. Tallulah finds herself on her first date and having her first kiss with someone quite unexpected, and the description of that kiss is absolutely hilarious. I won’t ruin it, but think awkward like you wouldn’t believe. Of course, there is Alex and another friend called Charlie who Tallulah finds herself drawn to as well. And then lurking in the shadows is the local bad boy, Cain. It’s unclear what his ultimate role with Tallulah will be, but he serves as a decent villain, or as much of a villain as this story is likely to have. The boys are relatively one dimensional, but I feel in time we’ll begin to find out more of their personalities, just as the girls characters will be expanded in the coming books.

            Besides boys, Tallulah’s main concern is finding her place at Dother Hall and being accepted back as a full time student for the coming fall term. She can’t sing, she can’t dance (except for some crazy Irish jigs) and overall she is the quirky tall girl self conscious about her knees who doesn’t quite fit in. We have several wonderful encounters with her various teachers; all who profess to understand the arts and how to be an artist but never seem to back that up with performance proof. Watching Tallulah find her place among these crazy people creates an endearing story, one that most readers will relate to, of trying to find where you fit in the world and hoping that your dreams are good enough to make it happen.

            The only fault I found in Withering Tights was the rather abrupt ending. I know the series is going to continue but things seemed to wrap up at an incredibly high speed and even then I was left with a lot of plot threads hanging about. I’m wiling to overlook this and praise the book overall, since I have the next one sitting on my bedside table and can start it as soon as I finish this review. Withering Tights is a ridiculously fast read, I managed it in one day of reading for a few hours here and there, and rightly so, as you are pulled in by Tallulah and her endearing journey to find herself, and some excellent friends along the way. Check it out if you are up for British humor and sensibilities and a quick, uncomplicated read for the beach or a lazy Sunday afternoon.