All lives contain growth spurts-physical ones, most obviously, but intellectual and emotional ones as well. Laura Catherine Brown's powerful first novel focuses on just such a moment in the life of a determined young woman. For nineteen-year-old Mandy Boyle, going away to college means a chance to sever ties with her blue-collar family, notably her controlling mother, and stike out on her own. But Mandy is soon transformed in ways she had never imagined. Her father's sudden death sets in motion a wrenching chain of events that forces Mandy to grow up fast, resulting in an unwanted pregnancy. The stage when a fetus first shows signs of having a life of its own is known as the "quickening." This is the story of Mandy's adult quickening-an engrossing read about real people making real choices...and dealing with the unexpected turns and surprises that come with growing up.