Growing Up

About the Book

Synopsis of the Story

Chapters

1.  Marian and Maury start going together when she is 13, he 14.  Half a year later they have sex for the first time.  They really think they're in love.  Soon after Marian formally becomes an adult at 14, she decides to move to Maury's clan, the Robins, instead of staying with her parents in the Ivy clan.  Her older sister Dawn admits to Marian she'd moved out when she wasn't old enough; and she might take her life out of disappointment.  After Marian moves she begins to doubt she and Maury are headed for marriage.

2.  Marian starts job with Robin Trading Co.  She meets Jill, and begins both homosexual affair and intellectual friendship with her.  Dawn visits Marian to say she'll become a fighting girl (in effect, a delayed suicide.)  After visit Marian goes to Maury for reassurance.  Maury tells her he hopes they can remain close friends, even without marriage.  Soon after, Marian tells Maury she's going to study law, and expects to take vows of celibacy.  (The vows required for certain professions do not foreswear sex, only marriage and children.)  The next day she's told her father Jeff had just cleared up two nagging worries he'd had since his youth; and Marian tells her folks of her decision.

3.  Marian's parents tell their daughters they're going to take their lives–-not out of sadness but out of joy.  They've achieved all they want in life.  Maury comforts Marian, tries to explain what "dying happy" means.  Jill has a more philosophical explanation, based on their country's social conditions.

4. Marian wraps herself in pre-law studies.  Jill introduces Marian to Anne of the Willows' philosophy, called "Annism," about their country’s present and future.  At a party, Marian allows an older teen to pick her up, but he turns out to be wrong for her--she’s thankful she can recognize it.  She moves to Legal office at trading firm, starts University law study.  She accompanies the office on a three-day business trip to another village.  There she gets further information on her father's early life, and hears warnings from her boss Jean about the lonely life of a celibate.

5. Maury and Jill conspire to get Marian out of her studious shell and more involved in everyday life; they have some surprising success.  Jill, now 20, bears a child, after Marian assures her she couldn't get jealous.  Marian and Maury admit the love they’d tried to deny a few years ago, and they decide to act as if they're married; but she knows she still can't bear a child.  They're told the marriage can't be formalized.

6. Marian graduates and becomes attorney.  She wins complex case defending a cousin against a rape charge.  Marian visits Jean, who thanks her for her help in oping with life.  With Marian's okay, Maury gives their 13-year-old cousin Penny her first sex contact, and some advice on the celibate life she wants to pursue as a physician.  Jean retires and Marian becomes head of Legal office (she’s just short of 24 years old.)

7.  A year later, Marian helps settle dispute between clans in another village--she sees her reputation growing.  Penny, now 18, and her boyfriend Kevin begin de-facto marriage like Marian and Maury.  Marian talks with Maury about background of Law of Celibacy, and also begs Maury not to work as hard as he does, since they have no children.  At a party, Marian discusses the implications of Annism...

About the Author

R. L. Hughes is the pseudonym of a freelance journalist who lives in Arlington, Va. Along with his features for nagazines and newspapers, he has also worked as a research physicis and taught college-level math. Growing Up is his first novel.