Lucy, go see. - Marianne Maili

Called an “intriguing tale of sexual revelation” by Kirkus Reviews, Lucy, go see. is even more. Based on a true story, it is a bildungsroman and a quest, a tale of generations of women who dream of going, a story that explores relationship with self and others, and an adventurous saga that travels the world while asking what it takes for a woman to live the life she wants in a man’s world. As it considers what female agency, and in particular, female sexual agency, can look like, it is also a novel that probes how humans think and feel about sex and how we have it with each other, how we use it in our lives. It also responds to the question of how being touched inappropriately as a young girl affects a woman’s life, sexually and entirely. It is not without humor, fun, and family and romantic involvement. It is introspective and curious like it’s protagonist, Lucy Pilgrim, a young woman from rural Iowa who becomes an international model to see the world. The reader follows her through the different pickles she gets herself into and out of as she is attracted to and repulsed by the profession, and moves between Iowa and the world, applying the Iowa values she grew with to her relationships in and out of the world of fashion. The novel was a finalist in both the American Book Fest’s 2018 Best Books Awards (Women's Issues), and the 2019 Next Generation Indie Awards (Inspirational Fiction), and won the 2019 Eric Hoffer daVinci Eye Award for outstanding cover art. Illustrations by Maili are placed throughout the novel (color/hardcover, i black and white/paperback).