A GOOD HAPPY GIRL

Ellie Gossage gives an intense and wonderfully introspective performance of this unsettling novel. Helen is lesbian lawyer whose parents have recently been incarcerated for an appalling crime of neglect. She's nearly perfected the art of compartmentalizing her trauma and using sex to distract herself, but she takes it to another level when she becomes involved with an older married couple. Gossage voices Helen with a mix of deadpan humor and heated longing that perfectly reflects her mental state. Gossage gives the married couple voices that often reflect how Helen sees them--exciting, sexy, and in charge. This is a cynical, sometimes disturbing, and fascinating novel about childhood trauma, desire, and denial. L.S. © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine [Published: JULY 2024]