Two sisters navigate the thrilling, euphoric early days of California
surf culture in this dazzling saga of ambition, sacrifice, and the
tangled ties between mothers and daughters from the New York Times
bestselling author of The Aviator's Wife.
Southern California, 1960s: endless sunny days surfing in Malibu,
followed by glittering neon nights at Whisky a Go Go. In an era when
women are expected to be housewives, Carol Donnelly breaks the mold as a
legendary female surfer struggling to compete in a male-dominated
sport--and her daughters, Mindy and Ginger, bear the weight of Carol's
unconventional lifestyle.
The Donnelly sisters grow up enduring their mother's
absence--physically, when she's at the beach, and emotionally, the rare
times she's at home. To escape questions about Carol's whereabouts--and
to chase her elusive affection--they cut school to spend their days in
the surf. From her first time on a board, Mindy is a natural, but
Ginger, two years younger, feels out of place in the water.
As they grow up and their lives diverge, Mindy and Ginger's relationship
ebbs and flows. Mindy finds herself swept up in celebrity, complete with
beachside love affairs, parties at the Playboy Club, and a USO tour in
Vietnam. Meanwhile, Ginger, desperate for a community of her own, is
tugged into the dangerous counterculture of drugs and cults. But through
it all, their sense of duty to each other survives, as the girls are
forever connected by the emotional damage they carry from their
unorthodox childhood.
A gripping, emotional story set at a time when mothers were expected to
be Donna Reed, not Gidget, California Golden is an unforgettable novel
about three women living in a society that was shifting as tempestuously
as the breaking waves.
