Date Released: Wed, 6 March 2013 10:59 +0200

Amusing, odd, ironic, Penelope is a novel that will take you back to those days when you first left home to pursue your dreams of further education.

Penelope is debut author Rebecca Harrington’s first novel. It chronicles Penelope O’Shaughnessy first year at the esteemed Harvard University. 

And it becomes clear from the very first page of the book that Penelope is no ordinary teenager, and that her year is going to be most amusing. 

Penelope is not quite normal. 

In her mind everyone is good no matter how badly they might slight her. 

She would rather spend her evenings at parties playing Tetris than interacting with other people, and she knows Morse code? a skill that no adult under the age of forty is familiar with. 

Her idea of a great introductory story is to tell people that she sat in a car seat until she was in fourth grade. 

She’s not terribly fashionable, nor is she savvy when it comes to dealing with men, and Penelope often says the wrong thing.  
Despite all of this she is a bright girl; she’s just unbelievably innocent and naive. 

Penelope as a novel looks at what really goes on at University. 

There are an extraordinary number of intellectual know-it-alls, unfortunate hook-ups, drunken parties, pointless extracurricular activities, and everyone except perhaps Penelope is driven to achieve and succeed. 

We learn early on that Penelope and her mother have a strained relationship. Her mom tries desperately to advise her daughter on how to be more socially acceptable, and perpetually worries that her daughter won’t fit in. 

Which is quite understandable as Penelope is socially awkward. However, I’m not sure that her mother’s advice is always in her daughter’s best interests.

Penelope’s flatmates are horrible people. Lan, a Goth, spends most of her time playing loud music and hibernating in her room with a stray cat that Penelope is highly allergic to. 

And Emma, her roommate, is forever moving Penelope’s things out of their bedroom into the lounge, as well as wailing hysterically on her phone to her father (a former graduate of the University), a man who has incredibly high expectations for his little princess. 

Penelope is hopelessly attracted to the odd yet dashingly handsome Gustav, a perpetual student and a man incapable of forming a real romantic attachment.

And if that weren’t enough Penelope must fend off the unwanted advances of her tutor, who is also her house master.  

And it doesn’t end there, but I don’t want to give away the story. 

This is not a novel I would normally read. It is amusing, odd, ironic, and it will take you back to those days when you first left home to pursue your dreams of further education. 

In retrospect I don’t believe that my days at Rhodes University were quite so colourful. I’m also grateful that I never had to contend with half the absurdities that Penelope does. 

If you enjoy a wryly funny novel, then Penelope is a must-read.  

Photo: Penelope by Rebecca Harrington (Virago Press Ltd)

Article by Candice Wiggett