Sex Education - Hardcover

Selina has been Maddy's best friend since childhood. Their closeness is intriguing but over the years it develops into a twisted and complex friendship; Selina is manipulative, bitchy, arrogant and wild, and always insanely jealous of placid Maddy, stealing or destroying whatever Maddy has. The girls leave school, grow into defiant women and share a flat. Their tempestuous friendship results in the greatest betrayal of all by Selina, yet amazingly their friendship survives. From sex education lessons at school to sex education in real life, the story of these two fascinating women takes in love, pain, betrayal and death. Extremely well-written and a joy to read, this is an elegant debut from Visman who is already working on her second book.

Maddy and Selina wear matching plimsolls and wonder about sex. They're twelve years old and best friends. As they grow older, their friendship becomes more complicated. Selina is beautiful, wild and capricious but she is also intensely jealous of Maddy - jealous of Maddy's straight blond hair, her talent for making clothes, and especially jealous when Maddy gets more attention than her. On leaving school, the two friends move in together. Selina swans from lover to lover, and develops a serious interest in drugs while Maddy runs a clothes stall in Camden Market and falls in love for the first time. But it's still the same old story: whatever Maddy has Selina takes or destroys. Yet their friendship survives - until the day Selina makes a revelation that finally breaks Maddy's heart. From sex education classes to having babies, through fierce love and fierce war, Janni Visman charts the twisted, moving friendship between two girls as they grow into women. Elegantly written with a steely edge, SEX EDUCATION is a fascinating look at the often complex nature of female friendships. It is an astute, poignant debut.