Just-a-girl

Layla is only 14. As she sits in bed with a laptop, her mother Margot sleeps in the next room. But what separates them is more than just a wall. It’s every mother’s nightmare. Layla cruises online. She catches trains to meet strangers. And Margot never suspects. Not even when Layla brings a man into their home. Margot’s caught in her own web: an evangelical church and a charismatic pastor. Pastor Bevan preaches to the faithful, reeling them in to his tangled conceits with podcasts and twitter. Meanwhile, downtown, a man opens a suitcase and tenderly places his young lover inside. just_a_girl tears into the fabric of contemporary culture. A Puberty Blues for the digital age, a Lolita with a webcam, it’s what happen when young girls are forced to grow up too fast. Or never get the chance to grow up at all...

About the Author

Kirsten Krauth is a freelance writer and editor, who currently edits the NSW Writer’s Centre magazine, Newswrite. She writes reviews, articles and fiction for various magazines and newspapers, including The Australian and Sydney Morning Herald.