Sorority Sisters

Welch’s debut tracks a handful of co-eds over the course of 25 years. Karen, Ellen, Laurie, and Diane all have their own reasons for rushing the Beta Pi sorority during the fall of 1975, and they all harbor varying degrees of cynicism about the sisterhood it promises. None of them are keen on either the “slightly horrifying, slightly barbaric, completely degrading ritual[s]” that accompany rushing or sororities’ reputations for being nothing more than marriage factories. But against the odds, the quartet bond so tightly that their sorority sisters nickname them “the Exclusives.” Through breakups, marriages, births, deaths, and betrayals, the Exclusives remain close well past graduation, and although the bonds evolve as their paths diverge, they discover over the next 20 years that leaving the sorority doesn’t mean losing their sisterhood. Through her rotating cast of narrators, Welch produces some insightful and poignant musings on female relationships against a well-drawn backdrop of 1970s California. Unfortunately, odd moments of insight are buried under frivolous social interaction. Once the Exclusives graduate, the story picks up steam and characters evolve, but during their co-ed years, it’s hard to keep the endless parade of parties and hookups from blending together. Agent: Dominick Abel. (June)