Blog Tour: ‘Mary Jane’ by Jessica Anya Blau

Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for ‘Mary Jane’ by Jessica Anya Blau, a fabulous coming-of-age novel set in the 1970s.

With thanks to Random Things Tours and the publisher for inviting me onto the tour and for my copy of the novel in exchange for an honest review.

From the Publisher:

The summer’s must-read is here: MARY JANE by Jessica Anya Blau is perfect for fans of the 1970s nostalgia captured by ‘Daisy Jones and the Six’ as well as readers of Judy Blume. With hints of ‘Almost Famous’, MARY JANE is a charming coming-of-age novel that perfectly captures that era of American culture, from rock music on the radio to family therapy on the beach.

Set in 1975 suburban Baltimore, Blau’s breakout novel introduces Mary Jane, a sheltered teenage girl whose world opens up when she lands a summer job as the nanny for the daughter of a local doctor. A respectable job, Mary Jane’s mother says. In a respectable house.

The Cone house may look respectable on the outside, but inside it’s a literal and figurative mess: clutter on every surface, Impeachment: Now More Than Ever bumper stickers on the doors, cereal and takeaway for dinner. And even more troublesome (were Mary Jane’s mother to know, which she does not): the doctor is a psychiatrist who has cleared his summer for one important job—helping a famous rock star dry out. A week after Mary Jane starts, the rock star and his movie star wife—Jimmy and Sheba—move in.

Over the course of the summer, Mary Jane introduces her new household to crisply ironed clothes and a family dinner schedule and has a front-row seat to a liberal world of sex, drugs, and rock and roll (not to mention group therapy). Caught between the lifestyle she’s always known and the future she’s only just realized is possible, Mary Jane will arrive at September with a new idea about what she wants out of life, and what kind of person she’s going to be.

A nostalgic trip into the 1970’s, MARY JANE is a timeless coming of age story about finding yourself, all wrapped up with lots of humour, a dash of teenage rebellion and plenty of rock and roll.

My Review:

What an absolutely perfect novel to read just as the British summer time finally kicks in! Yes, I realise that has probably jinxed the weather now for the foreseeable future, but this is a gorgeous novel of long, hot, summer days and will make the perfect beach read this year.

Mary Jane is the story of a fourteen year-old girl living in Baltimore in 1975 – she’s a good middle-class girl who sings in the church choir and helps her Mum keep the house spick and span. The book tells the tale of the summer that she goes to work for the unconventional and chaotic Cone family, looking after their five year-old daughter, Izzy. Also in the house are rock star Jimmy and his movie star wife, Sheba – there to hide from the media while Jimmy gets psychiatric support from Dr Cone. This is a summer that none of them will ever forget – and one that changes Mary Jane forever.

I loved this book so much! It is gloriously summery and packed with bitter-sweet nostalgia – although I don’t remember 1975 personally, the book captures that moment when, as a teenager, you start to find your place in the adult world and the possibilities suddenly feel infinite. As Mary Jane stands on the cusp of finding out who she is, the sense evoked by Blau is so tangible that the reader vividly recalls it too – that feeling of heady freedom, that your parents don’t always know who you are, that your future is what you make it… Wrap this intoxicating feeling up with a long, hot summer and the nostalgia is almost unbearable.

This is such a powerful book. And in all the best ways – there’s nothing here that is disturbing, graphic or gruesome (apart from some parenting that Social Services would probably have something to say about if this was now!) Instead, we have a charming and naive girl changing the lives of those around her and, in the process, working out her own strengths too. She brings order to the chaos of the Cone family’s lives, with her cooking and caring for Izzy, but they also change her – she learns independence, freedom from the stifling way of life of her parents and what it is to love.

The warmth of this novel is what totally won me over – the easy physicality of the Cone family, the praise for Mary Jane, the respect for her church singing, the love between characters, the open expression. All of this contrasts with Mary Jane’s life as an only child of strict parents – who unfortunately need to be told small lies so that Mary Jane is allowed to continue working for the Cones.

The 1970s setting is also well-realised by Blau. Little snippets of contemporary politics and social attitudes are wound in seamlessly – Mary Jane’s realisation that her parents’ club is staffed by Black workers who aren’t allowed to be club members on account of their race is cleverly done. As Mary Jane has her eyes opened to society outside her nice, middle-class neighbourhood, the reader feels her shock that her parents are complicit in the ongoing racial inequality. Suddenly, her sense of who is good and bad is shown to be on shaky ground.

And the music! With one of the main characters being a rock star (and praise from Nick Hornby referencing 45 rpm), it is clear that this is central to the book. The joy and freedom in the music is key to this novel – Mary Jane’s musical tastes are broadened as part of her development and she moves from church music and show tunes into the world of sex, drugs and rock’n’roll. Although she’s a good girl and only 14 so the rock’n’roll is the most important to her!

I honestly could rave about this book all day – even as I’m writing, more reasons I loved it are coming back to me! However, I’d say that the real strength of the novel lies in the way it makes you feel and I’m never going to be able to do that justice in this review, so please just pick up a copy of this novel.

About the Author:

Jessica Anya Blau is the author of US bestselling novel ‘The Summer of Naked Swim Parties’ and three other critically acclaimed novels, most recently ‘The Trouble With Lexie’. Her novels have been recommended and featured on CNN, NPR, The Today Show and in Vanity Fair, Cosmo, O Magazine, and many other US magazines and newspapers.