Description

Seventeen-year-old Holly has a problem. She is pregnant by her high school boyfriend, and she has no plans to marry him. In fact, he hasn't asked her, and even if he did, her mother won't give consent to the underage marriage.  It is 1960. Abortion is illegal, and single motherhood is scorned. Out of options, Holly has been removed unceremoniously from her college dorm and packed off to a "Home".  Well, it's nothing like a home really, more like a place for girls to hide -- fifty of them -- each waiting out this unexpected intermission in her own secret story.Holly's mother, Bea, put her own dreams on hold when she married too young.  She has been supporting two kids on a secretary's salary ever since their father left ten years ago. This is a far cry from the life she had imagined for herself when she was Holly's age. Her daughter has a chance at something better, and Bea has no intention of allowing her to miss it by pinning her hopes on the wrong man. Elsa, Bea's ex-mother-in-law, thinks her granddaughter ought to know the secret Bea keeps locked away in the bottom drawer of her desk. It is not until Ned, a not-so-eligible divorced man, comes into Bea's life that everyone is ready for Act Two.Intermission: A First Mother's Story is a realistic and honest portrayal of an all too common teenage crisis in an environment that is now largely forgotten. The characters -- profoundly human with their quiet strengths, their struggles and their small victories -- provoke both laughter and tears, reminding us how far we have come while confirming how little has changed. If you never have faced this dilemma yourself, you doubtless know someone who has. This is a life-affirming story for all generations, a book to share with your mother, your daughter, your friends.