About this item
Laurie Boyle Crompton's coming of age in rural Pennsylvania and the New York City area in the 1970s and 1980s was anything but idyllic. In moving verse accompanied by diary-esque sketches, Crompton takes you along as she navigates relationships, plays the happy family at church despite discord at home, manages her mother's ambitions and her father's alcoholism, struggles with her self-image, and desperately tries to fit in at school by squeezing into too-tight designer denim. Both heartwarming and heartbreaking, The Denim Diaries follows Crompton's journey through disordered eating and sexual assault to acceptance and recovery. Her vivid poems recall the highs and lows of a life filled with hardship and joy alike. At times both harrowing and humorous, this memoir brings new perspective to the importance of self-love and finding hope in the darkest of times.
About the Author
Laurie Boyle Crompton is the author of PRETTY IN PUNXSUTAWNEY (Blink/HarperCollins 2019) , BLAZE, THE REAL PROM QUEENS OF WESTFIELD HIGH and LOVE AND VANDALISM (Sourcebooks 2013, 2014, 2017) , ADRENALINE CRUSH (FSG/Macmillan 2014, Square Fish 2016) , and the upcoming FREAKY IN FRESNO (Blink/HarperCollins 2020) . Laurie graduated first in her class from St. John's University with a BA in English and Journalism. Since then, she's written for national magazines like ALLURE, survived a teaching stint at an all-boys high school, and appeared on Good Day New York several times as a Toy Expert. And yes, a 'toy expert' is an actual thing that people sometimes get to be.She has lived in places like Orlando, Florida where she and her husband spent all of their spare time and money visiting theme parks before moving to the Cotswolds in England for six months, which was every bit as cool as that sounds. The Cromptons are now back in New York where their two children resent never getting to visit Disney or the Cotswolds.You can visit Laurie at lboylecrompton.com or check out her anti-eating-disorder artwork at dreamer-girl.com.
