Heavy Cream

After her mother abandons her, street-smart 16-year-old Geraldine lands in New York’s high society and underground art scene and struggles to survive the efforts of three glamorous women who try to save her. Growing up on the road, the two of them are locked in dysfunction. Homeschooled, Gerry hasn’t learned much math; instead her mother has taught her how to spend the day at a motel’s swimming pool without being a guest, or how to dodge paying extra for the chicken on a Caesar salad. When her mother ditches her, Gerry finds herself in the care of three very different women who each try to remake her. First there is her mother’s old college friend Bonnie, who lives in a world of country clubs, The Bachelor binges, and whipped mochas. Then there is Nell, her mother’s estranged sister and a successful artist who pushes Gerry to be ambitious. And finally Finley, an old-money socialite who ushers Gerry into a rarefied world of Manhattan privilege.

A coming-of-age novel that explores unconventional forms of motherhood and caretaking, Sarah Blakley-Cartwright's novel is both a charming comedy of manners and a deeply probing look at the complexities of love, mental illness, and one young woman’s eccentric path to selfhood.