Seventies slacker (to use a word not yet invented) and aspiring writer Alice moves from Virginia to Boston in 1977, with nothing but her intelligence, sass, and a MasterCharge. Attacking life and its problems the way a shark pursues prey, within weeks she's accumulated a shared apartment, a job, and an assortment of friends that you'd expect to find on the other side of the looking glass, from crazy-assed musicians to writers to pro dommes and call girls. Not to mention the two very fine men who take turns in her bed: George, who wants a woman who can keep up with him, both mentally and physically, and Doug, a pretty boy who hooks Alice without even casting a line. George, strong-willed, intelligent, and employed by the nascent computer industry, finds Alice by turns endlessly fascinating and infuriating, and, ultimately, irresistible. Doug, a wannabe journalist who lands women as easily as the local fishermen land cod, professes love to Alice. Yet he can't be true to anyone, not even himself, for his past holds a secret about his long-absent father, one his mother never revealed to him. This rollercoaster, semi-autobiographical tale by Barrie Abalard takes Alice from helping her sister, Barb, escape abuse at home, to landing her first freelance writing job-with a porno mag-to a mission meant to help an assaulted call-girl friend which requires her to pretend to be a working girl herself. And the sex. Did we mention the hot, super-fun, crazy Seventies shtupping? In this coming-of-age tale, Alice finds that she doesn't always get what she wants, but, as the Rolling Stones sing, she usually gets what she needs.