A liberal New England college campus is a peculiar place for a girl to grow up in this 'lovable, psychologically intricate [and] bittersweet farce' (The New York Times Book Review).
 
Massachusetts, 1970s. Born to a pair of 'bleeding heart' professors who live on campus as dorm parents, Frederica Hatch soon finds herself the unofficial mascot of Dewing College. Life is so ideal that by the time she becomes a teenager, Frederica finds herself chafing under the care of "the most annoyingly evenhanded parental team in the history of civilization." But she's about to learn that life isn't as simple or idyllic as it seems'even amid the manicured lawns of a small women's college like Dewing.
 
A new dorm parent has just arrived on campus. Laura Lee French is glamorous, worldly, and the former wife of Frederica's father. Suddenly, Frederica sees her parents' lives'and by extension her own'in a whole new light.
 
'may be Lipman's best work so far... Every page offers laugh-out-loud dialogue.''The Seattle Times