“A shimmering rendering . . . pairs the surf culture of the Beach Boys with the sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll of Daisy Jones & The Six.”—Entertainment Weekly (“Best Books of the Summer”)
Southern California, 1960s: endless sunny days surfing in Malibu, followed by glittering neon nights at Whisky a Go Go. In an era when women are expected to be housewives, Carol Donnelly breaks the mold as a legendary female surfer struggling to compete in a male-dominated sport—and her daughters, Mindy and Ginger, bear the weight of Carol’s unconventional lifestyle.
The Donnelly sisters grow up enduring their mother’s absence—physically, when she’s at the beach, and emotionally, the rare times she’s at home. To escape questions about Carol’s whereabouts—and to chase her elusive affection—they cut school to spend their days in the surf. From her first time on a board, Mindy is a natural, but Ginger, two years younger, feels out of place in the water.
As they grow up and their lives diverge, Mindy and Ginger’s relationship ebbs and flows. Mindy finds herself swept up in celebrity, complete with beachside love affairs, parties at the Playboy Club, and a USO tour in Vietnam. Meanwhile, Ginger, desperate for a community of her own, is tugged into the dangerous counterculture of drugs and cults. But through it all, their sense of duty to each other survives, as the girls are forever connected by the emotional damage they carry from their unorthodox childhood.
A gripping, emotional story set at a time when mothers were expected to be Donna Reed, not Gidget, California Golden is an unforgettable novel about three women living in a society that was shifting as tempestuously as the breaking waves.
“A shimmering rendering . . . pairs the surf culture of the Beach Boys with the sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll of Daisy Jones & The Six.”—Entertainment Weekly (“Best Books of the Summer”)
Southern California, 1960s: endless sunny days surfing in Malibu, followed by glittering neon nights at Whisky a Go Go. In an era when women are expected to be housewives, Carol Donnelly breaks the mold as a legendary female surfer struggling to compete in a male-dominated sport—and her daughters, Mindy and Ginger, bear the weight of Carol’s unconventional lifestyle.
The Donnelly sisters grow up enduring their mother’s absence—physically, when she’s at the beach, and emotionally, the rare times she’s at home. To escape questions about Carol’s whereabouts—and to chase her elusive affection—they cut school to spend their days in the surf. From her first time on a board, Mindy is a natural, but Ginger, two years younger, feels out of place in the water.
As they grow up and their lives diverge, Mindy and Ginger’s relationship ebbs and flows. Mindy finds herself swept up in celebrity, complete with beachside love affairs, parties at the Playboy Club, and a USO tour in Vietnam. Meanwhile, Ginger, desperate for a community of her own, is tugged into the dangerous counterculture of drugs and cults. But through it all, their sense of duty to each other survives, as the girls are forever connected by the emotional damage they carry from their unorthodox childhood.
A gripping, emotional story set at a time when mothers were expected to be Donna Reed, not Gidget, California Golden is an unforgettable novel about three women living in a society that was shifting as tempestuously as the breaking waves.
Critiques-
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March 1, 2023
In 1960s California, Mindy and Ginger's unconventional mother would rather be out surfing than hanging around at home, and the sisters miss out on basic motherly love. Mindy eventually proves to be a talented surfer herself, but Ginger looks for community among the burgeoning counterculture. From the New York Times best-selling author of The Aviator's Wife. Prepub Alert.
Copyright 2023 Library Journal
Copyright 2023 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
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July 10, 2023
Benjamin (The Children’s Blizzard) sets this attuned if cluttered story of a frustrated woman and her striving daughters against the backdrop of California’s emerging surfing scene. Carol Donnelly, a onetime prospect for the Olympic swim team, struggles with her role as a housewife in the 1950s, having scuttling her dreams of becoming an Olympic swimmer. While raising two daughters, she becomes a champion surfer, often leaving home for long stretches. In 1962, when her daughters, Mindy and Ginger, are teens, they take up surfing in hopes of winning their mother’s affection. By 1967, Mindy is a successful surfer and tours Vietnam with the USO. Ginger takes another path, leaving home to live with an abusive boyfriend who drags her into the violent world of a drug-dealing cult. The story slips into melodrama after Ginger shows up at Mindy’s doorstep to drop off her unwanted daughter, whom she had with Mindy’s surfer ex, and the sisters bring the baby to Carol, hoping to reconcile with their mother once and for all. The core family story is moving, but Benjamin loses focus amid the many themes—Vietnam, the 1960s counterculture, and domestic violence being just a few. These women can hang 10, but the novel doesn’t quite hang together. Agent: Alexandra Machinist, ICM Partners. -
July 1, 2023
On the glorious beaches of Southern California and Hawaii, the surf is up in this 1960s-era tale about mothers and daughters. You can practically hear The Beach Boys singing "California Girls" in this novel about surfer sisters Mindy and Ginger Donnelly and their mother, Carol, a world-class athlete and terrible mom. Fans of Taylor Jenkins Reid's Malibu Rising (2021) will enjoy this story, which shares some of same locales, but the dysfunctional family at its center is one of a kind. Carol is a water creature who never got the knack of how to be a mother. Her first love is the ocean, and her daughters suffer because of it. They wear dirty clothes, Carol forgets to pick them up at school, and she regularly abandons them to hit the beach. When Mindy and Ginger are teens, they too become surfers, though Mindy is a natural and Ginger is struggling to keep up. Things go sideways when Mindy outshines Carol in the water, and that's just the beginning of the grown-up problems the sisters face. Benjamin nails the damage caused by traumatic childhoods marked by insecurity and fear of abandonment. Mindy becomes a shallow minor celebrity garnering small roles in beach movies, and Ginger comes under the spell of a narcissistic drug user. The three Donnellys go their separate ways until, years later, fate steps in. This sun-soaked novel is wonderfully awash in the music, television, and fashion of the '60s as well as the counterculture movement that touted drugs and dropping out. Benjamin based this novel, in part, on real-life female surfers who faced sexism in the mid-20th century. A sun-drenched tale of two sisters trying to make peace with their past.COPYRIGHT(2023) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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July 1, 2023
In 1960s Southern California, the Donnelly girls were outcasts with threadbare bathing suits in their backpacks, who got picked up from school as soon as the surf conditions were perfect. Mindy and Ginger learned to surf from their mom, Carol, a trailblazer who never lost her passion for the sport. After Gidget came out, the whole world seemed fascinated by California surf culture. Mindy found a career as a stunt surfer in beachside movies and gained a new life as ""the Girl in the Curl."" But surf culture also had a darker underside, and Ginger was swallowed whole by it. Reconnecting decades later, the Donnelly sisters must confront what tore them apart. Prolific author Benjamin (The Children's Blizzard, 2021) tracks the diverging lives of the Donnelly women, careening from glamorous Hollywood parties to dangerous drug-smuggling operations to the stifling limitations of motherhood. With the charm and nostalgia of Beth Harbison's Confessions of the Other Sister and Amy Mason Doan's Lady Sunshine, Benjamin's novel also shows what the sun-kissed highlight reels so often missed.COPYRIGHT(2023) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
