Read this when
Cat's Eye
Some of the cruelest people in your childhood were the ones you called your best friends. Atwood gets it exactly. 👁️
Who it's for
Middle-aged painter Elaine Risley returns to Toronto for a retrospective and is flooded with memories of her childhood 'best friends', especially Cordelia, who tormented her with endless 'improvement' and exclusion.
Feelings it meets
What it is
Margaret Atwood's 1988 novel follows Elaine Risley, a painter who looks back on her childhood and teenage years in mid-20th-century Canada, mostly Toronto. The story centres on her complicated relationship with Cordelia, who with two other girls bullies Elaine for a long stretch of her childhood under the pretence of 'improving' her.
Where to find it
In print; widely available from libraries (Libby/Hoopla) and as an audiobook. Still in copyright, so not on Project Gutenberg.
Before you start
Heads up: Suicide attempts and child bullying.
Age: Ages 16+
the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts;George Eliot, Middlemarch, Chapter LXXXVI
