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Girl Defective

By Simmone Howell
Photographer Henry Beer

In the tradition of High Fidelity and Empire Records, this is the literary soundtrack to Skylark Martin’s strange, mysterious, and extraordinary summer.

This is the story of a wild girl and a ghost girl; a boy who knew nothing and a boy who thought he knew everything.

It’s a story about Skylark Martin, who lives with her father and brother in a vintage record shop and is trying to find her place in the world. It’s about ten-year-old Super Agent Gully and his case of a lifetime. And about beautiful, reckless, sharp-as-knives Nancy. It’s about tragi-hot Luke, and just-plain-tragic Mia Casey. It’s about the dark underbelly of a curious Australian neighborhood. It’s about summer, and weirdness, and mystery, and music.

And it’s about life and death and grief and romance. All the good stuff.
Photograph by Tania Jovanovic
Simmone Howell

Simmone Howell is the award-winning author of Notes from the Teenage Underground and Everything Beautiful. Before becoming a writer she worked in a multitude of secondhand bookstores and record shops, and as a result her house looks like one. She lives with her husband and son and crazy dog in Melbourne, Australia. Visit her at SimmoneHowell.com.

* "Funny, observant, a relentless critic of the world's (and her own) flaws, Sky is original, thoroughly authentic and great company, decorating her astute, irreverent commentary with vivid Aussie references; chasing these down should provide foreign readers with hours of online fun."

– Kirkus Reviews, May 2014, *STARRED REVIEW*

"Charming, funny, fun…a delightful journey through an Australian teenager's summer of weird and cool."

– Rachel Cohn, New York Times bestselling co-author of Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist

"Smart. Edgy. Beautifully written. One of my year's favorites."

– Melina Marchetta, Printz Medal winner for Jellicoe Road

"Melancholy and haunting, funny and hopeful, and just everything I love in a book."

– Trish Doller, author of Where the Stars Still Shine

"Part mystery, part romance, and part unconventional family story, the book introduces an intriguing cast of characters, each of whom has his or her own mystery or problem to solve.... Sky’s first-person narrative...is observant, questioning, and self-critical...the novel’s rich and well-described setting anchors the plot while its conclusion works to illuminate the relationship between its unique characters and their preoccupations."

– Horn Book Magazine, September/October 2014
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Girl Defective

By Simmone Howell
Photographer Henry Beer