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Girlhood  By  cover art

Girlhood

By: Melissa Febos
Narrated by: Melissa Febos
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Publisher's summary

Bloomsbury presents Girlhood by Melissa Febos, read by Melissa Febos.

A gripping set of stories about the forces that shape girls and the adults they become. A wise and brilliant guide to transforming the self and our society.

In her powerful new book, critically acclaimed author Melissa Febos examines the narratives women are told about what it means to be female and what it takes to free oneself from them.

When her body began to change at 11 years old, Febos understood immediately that her meaning to other people had changed with it. By her teens, she defined herself based on these perceptions and by the romantic relationships she threw herself into headlong. Over time, Febos increasingly questioned the stories she’d been told about herself and the habits and defences she’d developed over years of trying to meet others’ expectations. The values she and so many other women had learned in girlhood did not prioritise their personal safety, happiness or freedom, and she set out to reframe those values and beliefs.

Blending investigative reporting, memoir and scholarship, Febos charts how she and others like her have reimagined relationships and made room for the anger, grief, power and pleasure women have long been taught to deny.

Written with Febos’s characteristic precision, lyricism and insight, Girlhood is a philosophical treatise, an anthem for women and a searing study of the transitions into and away from girlhood, towards a chosen self.

©2021 Melissa Febos (P)2021 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

Critic reviews

"Girlhood is an exquisite collection. In lapidary, lucid prose, Melissa Febos dissects the traumas, terrors and pleasures of the fraught passage from girl to woman. Febos’ insight is devastating, the examinations of her world - from the female body, queerness, consent, slut-shaming and intimacy - are rigorous and compassionate. This is a book for mothers, daughters and our deepest selves, a true light in the dark." (Stephanie Danler, author of Sweetbitter)

"In this book, Febos proves herself to be one of the great documenters of the terrible and exquisite depths of girlhood. Here, that terrible and beautiful aeon is dissected, sung over, explored like ancient ruins. These essays are moss and iron - hard and beautiful - and struck through with Febos’ signature brilliance and power and grace. An essential, heartbreaking project." (Carmen Maria Machado, author of In the Dream House and Her Body and Other Parties)

"Melissa Febos is part poet, part theorist and all writer. In this lyrical, searching, profound and personal collection, Febos examines childhood, femaleness and love in its many forms with a sensuous ferocity that is all her own." (Ariel Levy, author of The Rules Do Not Apply and Female Chauvinist Pigs)

Featured Article: The top 100 memoirs of all time


All genres considered, the memoir is among the most difficult and complex for a writer to pull off. After all, giving voice to your own lived experience and recounting deeply painful or uncomfortable memories in a way that still engages and entertains is a remarkable feat. These autobiographies, often narrated by the authors themselves, shine with raw, unfiltered emotion sure to resonate with any listener. But don't just take our word for it—queue up any one of these listens, and you'll hear exactly what we mean.

What listeners say about Girlhood

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Great read, audio needs editing

The first hour or so is the book was fine but as it progressed there were more and more sound errors and different sections repeated. The essays are excellent, though. I would skip the audiobook and purchase a printed copy.

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8 people found this helpful

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Spot on for many of us

Provocative. A salve for other academics with histories. (I enjoy the author’s narration also. It’s always good to hear the author read)

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2 people found this helpful

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Great Book but Audio is Choppy

I really enjoyed listening to this book. It always is nice listening to the author read it because I can get more of a sense of what they meant when they wrote it. I did have to stop quite often because much of it does hit deep wounds for those whom identify as female. We all have experienced much of what she speaks about in this book, so personally, I needed time away to process and self-reflect on what the words mean in my life and process what wounds I still have left unhealed that the book opens up. Melissa gives voice to feelings many women are unable to give voice to, like "empty consent,"

The audio was very choppy in the first few chapters. I almost stopped the book altogether and returned it because it was so bad with the repeats and weird cut-offs. After about Chapter 7 or 8 it stopped being choppy.

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2 people found this helpful

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Not produced

Whoever produced this audio book clearly did not listen back / edit before putting this up. You can hear when the narrator fumbles over her words and then restarts the sentence throughout the audio book. Very frustrating to listen to, couldn’t get through it.

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I just couldnt

From the story line to the reading. I really could not get passed it as much as I wanted to.

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Gut punchy memoir and polemic

I was pretty gripped by one of these essays when adapted for NYT, the whole book is engaging too but really also more dense, heart wrenching, and polemical than that. Lots of unpalatable but worthwhile food for thought as a politically/culturally ambivalent, religious, straight, white dad. Always appreciate hearing an author read and speak for themselves as here.

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Phenomenal

Girlhood by Melissa Febos is a phenomenal collection of essays. I found myself drawn to her lyrical prose and deep insight. I learned and felt a lot. She is among the finest essayists of our generation. I highly recommend her book.

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Absolutely stunning.

Writing like this makes me so grateful that I started reading for pleasure again. What I would have missed out on from this essay if I hadn’t! Thank you for sharing yourself with us.

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a sense of clarity

been going through a very toxic breakup and this collection of essays helped me so much with realizing why i need to end it (along with being beautifully written and incredibly raw).

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Breathtaking.

This collection of essays gutted me. I felt seen. Melissa Febos is a literary genius who is able to distill experience into the most beautiful prose.

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