April 7, 2008

Southern Comfort

“Girls in Trucks,” by Katie Crouch

Life doesn’t come with GPS. But lick a finger and stick it in the air and you’ll eventually find your way.

As does Sarah Walters in Girls in Trucks, the fiction debut of SF writer Katie Crouch.

Crouch, a transplant from the South, navigates Walters through the blueblood society of Charleston, digging into a world of debutante balls, cotillions, and mothers who’d rather sit on their verandas than ride shotgun in pickups.

After college Walters lands in NYC, but when family tragedy brings her back to her roots, she finds the pull of home comforting yet frightening. Delving into personal relationships and dissecting love and family, Crouch reveals you can steer your course without a map.

Because it’s about the journey, not the destination, y’all.

Wine reception and reading, Thursday, 6:30 p.m., at Books, Inc. in Opera Plaza, 601 Van Ness Avenue, at Golden Gate Avenue. Available at Books, Inc. (415-776-1111 or booksinc.net); online at amazon.com.