Kennedy Girl and A Theory of Expanded Love
by Caitlin Hicks
Review by Carole Harmon of Writer’s Radio
The two novels follow the transformation of Annie Shea from a gawky twelve year old, desperate to make her mark as # 6 in a Catholic family of thirteen children (fourteen by the novel’s end), into an unstoppable seventeen year old as Kennedy Girl, the sequel of A Theory of Expanded Love.
Kennedy Girl
1968. What a year to be seventeen. Hair is opening on Broadway. Bobby Kennedy is campaigning to run for President on a social reform platform. Annie is cast in a musical revue of songs from HAIR!, directed by lecherous Father Sullivan and starring Lucas, a charismatic black dancer from a Catholic School in Watts. Annie’s older sister, the rebellious Madcap, is dating a Jew against her parents wishes. Annie’s older brothers are enlisting to fight in Vietnam with the enthusiastic support of their father, a former Commander in the US Navy. What can go wrong when Annie sneaks out of the house to join Madcap and Lucas in working on Bobby Kennedy’s campaign?
Kennedy Girl hits all the high points of that idealistic, troubled and iconoclastic year. Feminism, abuse of power, assassination, racism, war, loyalty and duty—these themes effortlessly unfold in the believable and inevitable unfolding of this story. No spoiler alerts here.
A Theory of Expanded Love
This is the second edition of this book which was Caitlin Hicks’ debut novel. It won many awards when it was released by Light Messages in 2015. The most auspicious, to my mind, was its inclusion on Book Riot’s 100 Must Read Books About Women & Religion along with many of the world’s most famous novelists: A.S. Byatt, Margaret Atwood, Ann Patchett, Iris Murdoch, Barbara Kingsolver, Toni Morrison, Flannery O’Connor, Zora Neil Hurston, Arundhati Roy, Alice Hoffman…..
This charming book is much more than a pretty face. The author is also from a large Catholic family, as is her husband, renowned Canadian visual artist, Gordon Halloran. These two families provided the inspiration and background knowledge for two books which ring with the authenticity of lived experience. Twelve year old Annie Shea aches to be good, to be seen, to do what’s right rather than what’s proper. This book makes me remember my own twelve year old self and all the repressed and urgent passion, idealism and hesitancy of that age.
Caitlin Hicks has come to these novels following a distinguished career as a Canadian playwright, performer, and screen-writer. She has toured internationally in one woman monologue productions. Again, it is this lived experience which seasons the dialogue, diary entries, and self-examination of Annie.
I simply loved both books.
Do yourself a favour, order both books at once and save on shipping.
Both books are also available as E-Books in both Kindle and Apple Books. A Theory of Expanded Love is available as an audio book from the author’s website: https://caitlinhicks.com/wordpress/
