Shopgirls: A Novel
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From the author of the βdelightfulβ (New York Times Book Review)Β Mary Jane, a new novel of found family, growing up, and the best and worst of the 1980s, revolving around San Franciscoβs most exclusive department store, I. Magnin.
Nineteen-year-old Zippy can hardly believe it: sheβs the newest and youngest salesgirl at I. Magnin, βSan Franciscoβs Finest Department Store.β Every week, she rotates her three spruced-up Salvation Army outfits and Vaseline-shined pumps; still, sheβs thrilled to walk those pumps through the employee entrance five days a week as she saves to buy something new. For a girl who grew up in a one-bedroom apartment above a liquor store with her mother and her motherβs madcap boyfriend, Howard; a girl who wanted to go to college but had no help in figuring out how; I. Magnin represents a real chance for a better and more elegant life. Or, at the very least, a more interesting one.
Zippy may not be in school, but sheβs about to get an education that will stick with her for decades. Her fellow salesgirls (lifetime professionals) run the gamut from mean and indifferent to caring and helpful. The cosmetics ladies on the first floor share both samples and advice (βonly date a man with a Rolexβ); and her new roommate, Raquel, an ambitious lawyer, tells Zippy she can lose ten pounds easy if she joins Raquel in eating only every other day. Just when Zippy thinks sheβs getting a handle on how to be an adult woman in 1985, two surprises threaten both her sense of self and her coveted position at I. Magnin.
Set in the Day-Glo colors of 1980s San Francisco,Β ShopgirlsΒ is an intoxicating novel of self-discovery, outrageous fashion, and family both biological and found.
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Jessica Anya Blau was born in Boston and raised in Southern California. Her novels have been featured on The TODAY Show, Good Morning America, CNN, and NPR, and in Cosmo, Vanity Fair, Bust, Time Out, Oprah Summer Reads and other national publications. Jessicaβs short stories and essays have been published in numerous magazines, journals, and anthologies. Jessica co-wrote the script for Love on the Run starring Frances Fisher and Steve Howey. She sometimes works as a ghost writer and has taught writing at Johns Hopkins University, Goucher College, and The Fashion Institute of Technology. Jessica lives in New York.
