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During the summer of his sixteenth birthday, Hal reaches a crossroads of choices in his life. He foolishly takes out a friend's boat for a day's sailing off Southend, gets into difficulties and is rescued by Barry. Their ensuing relationship brings Hal the intense emotions of his first teenage love.

Subtitled 'The Pillow Book of Cordella Kenn' this is the story of Cordella from the time she is 15 until she is 20. She is pregnant and plans to give this account to her daughter on her 16th birthday so that they can share their youth together. She chooses the old and famous Japanese book The Pillow Book by Sei Shonagon as a model in order to include all kinds of things she has already written as well as the episodes and thoughts she has now as she compiles her book. She tells of her mother (who died when Cordella was five) of her father and her aunt Dorls (who marry when she is 16), of her love for William Blacklin, the boy with whom she chooses to have her first sex - and with whom she falls deeply in love. She writes about Julie Martin her teacher who helps her spiritually, describes her love affair with an older married man and her terrifying sexual experience with an unbalanced young man who is obsessed with her. The book includes thoughts on being a women, on poetry, music, reading and writing, on being pregnant and finally of her marriage to William. This Is All is an anthology, written in six 'books' of Cordella's adolescent life, by turns funny, poignant, sad, exciting, fascinating ironic and truthful about topics that parents often do not tell their children. It is a richly entertaining and challenging read.