Showing results for "Hair" in Anthologies & Short Stories

Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was born on 24th September 1896 in Saint Paul, Minnesota into an upper-middle class family. His classic "Bernice Bobs Her Hair" carefully pulls apart the relationship between two cousins one hot summer. Something has to give and with Fitzgerald its an absolute certainty that the brittle lives of young women finally snap in unique ways.

Bernice has rare beauty and wealth, but is undeniably socially awkward. Her cousin Marjorie does her best to make Bernice into a social vampire. Being a socialite in America in the 1920s, it seems to her that some of the more archaic feminine ideals need to go. Bernice's long, luxurious hair may need to go, too.

The time has come to (re)discover Dan Lungu in his best form as a prose writer.

It's the 1920s, and Bernice, a teenager, visits her cousin, also a teenager, but far more wise in the ways of the world. It's summer, with dances at the country club, and Bernice is a bit of a burden to her cousin Marjorie, until Marjorie shares a few secrets with Bernice. With Bernice as the belle of the ball, Marjorie takes a few steps of her own.

Bernice, a wealthy girl from Eau Claire, Wisconsin, visits her cousin Marjorie for the month of August. One night Bernice overhears Marjorie complain to her mother that Bernice is a drag on her social life. Bernice resigns herself to allow Marjorie to coach her on the fine arts of fashion, flirting, dancing, and conversation. But Bernice becomes more accomplished at these things than her cousin would have liked, attracting the attention of Marjorie's beau. A rivalry develops. There are irreversible consequences.

In this international award-winning story, a woman finally comes to terms with her mother, who left her as a very young girl, and the legacy of horror she left behind.