A girl faces the terror and thrill of her first grown-up dinner in this quietly devastating tale of youth and longing. Sent to visit Madam Le Baron, a formidable widow in her grand mansion, our narrator is given a green satin gown the most beautiful dress she has ever owned and with it, an impossible standard to live up to. The silk is stiff, the expectations are crushing, and all she can feel is the gap between the girl in the mirror and the person she desperately wants to become. Yet as she navigates this strange new world of adult manners and social performance, she discovers that wisdom and kindness can come from unexpected places. Richards captures that specific childhood ache of wanting so badly to be seen as more than a child, and the surprising peace that comes from learning you might already be enough.
