The cover of Rufi Thorpe’s first novel, The Girls From Corona Del Mar, depicts two girls, probably 11 or 12 years old, in swimsuits, sitting like perfect copies of one another. I immediately wanted to read it. Inside, there’s the story of two childhood best friends: Mia, in her mind the bad one, and the narrator of the story; and Lorrie Ann, the beautiful one with what looks from the outside like the perfect family, the perfect life. As we follow the girls, and the city of Corona Del Mar itself, throughout the years past that pivotal point of first friendships and high-school loyalties, the girls’ roles are almost reversed: Mia becomes the settled one with a child, husband and family; Lorrie Ann the runaway, adrift in parties and drugs, a chaser of the latest craze.
Author Rufi Thorpe
I had the chance to talk to Rufi Thorpe about her first novel, and about the importance of those relationships you create at age 12—how they can last throughout adulthood, motherhood, and more. Continue reading
