Split skirt

In this mesmerizing novel, two women share a weekend in a cell in the county jail, and there, they tell each other the stories of their lives - the split between who they are now and who they used to be. Rita is twenty-seven, fast-living, and reckless. Her unlikely cellmate, Mrs. Tyler, is in her fifties, rich, reserved, and socially prominent. These two women appear to have nothing in common but three days in which to rethink their lives - to talk and pass the time, to forget about where they are by focusing on where they have been, by asking themselves and each other how in the world they've wound up embarrassing their families and themselves. Rita left home right after high school, spent her days working, her nights in bars. When the appeal of casual sex and the occasional hit of cocaine began to wear thin, she met Alex, fell in love, and married. She had what she thought she wanted: a husband, a home, a chance to finish college and get a real job. But something still wasn't right. Rage that Rita didn't understand woke her up in the middle of the night and fueled her sense that her life was about to spin out of control. Then her boss's memo forbidding split skirts triggered a reaction that began with a night on the town with the women from her officeand ended with Rita's arrest for possession of cocaine and drunk driving. Mrs. Tyler lives in a big house in an exclusive suburb, wears expensive clothes - and cannot stop shoplifting from department stores. Born into a large working-class family, Mrs. Tyler married well and skyrocketed up the social ladder; she certainly has no need to steal the blouses she tucks into her purse, the lipsticks she hides up her sleeve. What began as a prank has become a compulsion, and Mrs. Tyler comes to jail determined to understand why she has sabotaged herself and her family. Profound truths about women's lives emerge as these two cellmates exchange stories. Rita and Mrs. Tyler reflect on being wives and workers, lovers and daughters, teenagers, little girls, mothers. They dare to be honest with each other and, as a result, come to better understand themselves, each other, and the world. Agnes Rossi's humor, intelligence, and sharp eye for human truths illuminate with power and grace the particular and the universal forces that shape a person's destiny.