I THINK I LOVE YOU (Alison Pearson)

The first thing that I can think of to say about Allison Pearson's novel, her first in 10 years, is that it was well worth the wait.  I started reading "I Think I Love You" during a trip to Philadelphia and couldn't wait to get home and find the time to finish it.  What a wonderful trip down memory lane for anyone, but especially for those of us who were females growing up in the 60's and 70's!  Song lyrics from Cassidy, Simon and Garfunkel, and other popular groups of the era are strewn subtly throughout the text of the novel, and I could swear that I detected some Wordsworth as well, but maybe that was my imagination.  Pearson has captured EXACTLY the experience of  being a 13-year-old girl during those simpler times, when love meant a wall covered with posters and heartfelt daydreams of meeting the object of our affection, who would instantaneously recognize the depth of our love and would fall in love in return!

Pearson's book focuses on two eras: the early 70's, when the "Partridge Family" was the show to watch and David Cassidy's androgenous appeal was at it's height, and 1998.  Petra Williams, now aged 37 (in 1998), lives in South Wales and is the recently divorced mother of 13-year-old Molly.  After the death of her distant, perfectionist German mother, Greta, Petra discovers an envelope addressed to her in her mother's closet.  The envelope contains an announcement that Petra and her friend Sharon have won the grand prize in a 1974 pop magazine contest, a trip to California to visit the set of the "Partridge Family" and meet their idol, David Cassidy.  Soon after, Petra, a little worse for drink, calls the publisher of the magazine that sponsored the contest and demands her prize.  Pearson switches back and forth from 1974 to 1998, from young Petra to adult Petra, interweaving the story of Bill, the young writer who, in 1974, creates the fantasy of David Cassidy for The Essential David Cassidy" magazine, the bible of the singer / actor's young Welsh fans.  Bill is now the "boss" at Nightengale Publications,", the sponsor of the long-ago contest.

You have to read this novel.  I can't describe the feeling that Pearson conjours up as she weaves fact and fantasy to tell the story of a young girl's love for a teen idol and the hopes, dreams, and disillusionment that define growing up.